


fiLe.,tQ7?5| 



ILIBRARY OF CONCfRESS, # 



UNITED STATES OP AMERICA.^ 



y^y- y ^'^^ 






REFORMERS AND MARTYRS 



BEFORE AND AFTER 



THE LUTHERAN REFORMATION 



THE LIVES. 

SENTIMENTS AND SUFFERINGS 



OF SOME OF THE 



REFORMERS AND MARTYRS 



BEFOBE, SINCE, AND INDEPENDENT OF 



THE LUTHERAN REFORMATION 



BY 

willia:m hodgsox. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 

18 7. ) 



3^^^' 
.1^^ 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 18G7, by 

WILLIAM HODGSON, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States foi 

the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 



3 4 > r /i 



\ 




PREFACE. 



In reading ecclesiastical history, it has often been 
a subject of disappointment that we cannot readily 
attain to a knowledge of the everyday course, and 
inner life and spirit, and so as it were enjoy the fa- 
miliar intercourse of those pious men and women, 
who were, during the darkness of the middle ages, 
depositaries of a little of the true light of the gospel, 
and instrumental in preserving more or less of a tes- 
timony to the inward efficacy and simplicity of true 
religion, and transmitting it to succeeding times. 
The history indeed of the "inner court" — the true 
church of Christ, from the dark hour of its flight 
into the wilderness, until the dawn of day in the 
sixteenth century — has never yet been written, and 
probably never will or can be. The various ecclesi- 
astical histories, though, many of them, deeply inter- 
esting and instructive, are, in their general scope, and 
with scarcely any exception, histories rather of the 
corruptions and confusions of the "outer court," 
which was "given unto the gentiles," They show 
1* (v) 



VI PREFACE. 



that church history, as well as other history, teaches 
not only by examples, but by warnings. They dis- 
play, in a remarkable manner, the stratagems of 
Antichrist, whereby that great deceiver of the na- 
tions established his throne in the professing Chris- 
tian church, showed himself as it were God, was 
worshipped as a god, trampled on the bodies and 
souls of men, made merchandise of the gospel, en- 
slaved the human intellect by superstition, intoxi- 
cated mankind with the cup of the wine of the wick- 
edness of Babylon, and reigned even over the kings 
of the earth. 

But the sweetness and humility and love of the 
true Christian life, which still lived, through all the 
darkness and death, in the hearts of a few, out of 
the sight of the world, but called and chosen and 
faithful, appears to have been scarcely an object of 
the research or commemoration of historians; and 
indeed was so much neglected by successive writers 
from century to century, that records of it, if any 
there were at all, are now scarcely to be found. 

Thus the accumulation of matter connected with 
and arising from worldly motives, and transactions 
of men of a worldly spirit, though ostensibly acting 
for religion, seems almost to eclipse in such histories 
the light of truly Christian example and effort; and 
the reader is often discouraged in his attempts to 



PREFACE. VI 1 

commune as it were with the real disciples of Christ, 
by the necessity of wading through so much cor- 
ruption and contention and intrigue, in order to 
obtain access to a little of that which is of a purer 
nature and more worthy of the name of Christianity. 

'Nor is he any less discouraged, in his endeavors 
to acquire a knowledge of the real sentiments and 
doctrines of many who have been considered as 
"disturbers of the peace," when they honestly testi- 
fied against the corruptions introduced into the 
church. Historians have mostly given very imper- 
fect, if not very partial and one-sided statements of 
opinions and doctrines so readily branded as heresy 
by interested parties; and in vain do we search, in 
the generality of church histories, for that which 
might be expected as a matter of justice, a clear and 
impartial statement of what such reformers really 
taught, couched in their own expressions. Perhaps 
the author who has approached the nearest to what 
is desired in this respect, may be said to be the late 
venerable and laborious Augustus ^N'eander. Yet 
most readers are afraid to undertake the task of an 
intimate acquaintance with his ponderous pages. 

And in like manner, many even of the modern 
biographical accounts of eminent worthies of the 
middle ages are encumbered with details of the 
results of minute research, valuable in themselves, 



VI 11 PREFACE. 

and highly worthy of preservation, but rendering 
such works too bulky, whereby they lose much of 
the attractiveness of their subject, and are scarcely 
adapted for general perusal. That the public feel- 
ing evinces this want of a more intimate acquaint- 
ance with these reformers, is shown by the avidity 
with which even fictitious narratives, and diaries 
fallaciously purporting to portray their course, have 
of late years been received. 

In a frequent realization of these circumstances, 
it has appeared to the author of the present vol- 
ume, that it might not be unacceptable to many 
serious readers, to have spread before them in a 
simple and unpretending manner, and clear of ex- 
traneous matter, such a sketch, as the scanty mate- 
rials now extant may permit, of the lives, examples, 
and sentiments of some of the sincere-hearted fol- 
lowers of the Lord Jesus, from the ninth century 
downward, who, having been taught more or less in 
the school of Christ, and faithful to the degree of 
light vouchsafed through the thick darkness, have 
been measurably enabled to discern the difference 
between genuine and fictitious religion, and made 
willing, at the hazard of their lives, to testify before 
the world against the falsities and corruptions which 
had crept in, so far as their eyes had been anointed 
and opened to perceive them. 



PREFACE. . IX 

In attempting these delineations, tlie writer lias 
not felt called upon to dwell particularly on those 
points of doctrine in which these comparatively 
enlightened men and women, through the influence 
of education and an almost universal prevalency, 
were still in accordance with the tenets of the Ro- 
man church; but rather to endeavor to arrive at and 
give their own statements in regard to the points in 
which they diverged from Rome, and were con- 
strained to protest against its apostasy from primi- 
tive Christianity. I^either has it been deemed need- 
ful here to include accounts of those eminent men, 
who were directly concerned in that mighty revolu- 
tion which took place in th'e beginning of the six- 
teenth century; as their instrumentality therein, and 
the particular features of their character and lives, 
have been repeatedly and largely portrayed, and are 
already matter of open and general history, and 
freely accessible to the public at large. 

Derived as the matter is, by compilation and con- 
densation, from a considerable variety of detached 
works of ecclesiastical history and biography, and 
without much reference to intervening events, no 
attempt has been made to give to the volume the 
aspect of a connected history. Yet, as the accounts 
are generally arranged in chronological order, it is 
hoped that some glimpses at least may thence be 



PREFACE. 



gathered, of the condition of Christian truth in the 
respective periods, and of the successive efforts mad6 
to rescue it from the clouds of error. 

The reader will perceive (however imperfectly 
accomplished) that one aim runs through the whole 
book — to show the superiority and sustaining effi- 
cacy of true spiritual religion — a religion, not of 
outward forms, and empt}^ pomp and parade, nor 
yet of airy imaginations, but of inward and living 
virtue to cleanse and renew the heart — a religion 
deeper than all the precepts of human learning, and 
loftier and more expansive than the utmost soarings 
of the human intellect — a religion taught in the 
heart, by Him who taught as never man taught, and 
Avho is still the great teacher of his people; as near 
to them now in Spirit, as he was then in that pre- 
pared body, in which, though Lord of all. He con- 
descended to walk lowly among men. Let the 
world call this religion by whatever name they may 
please to designate it, if it is the religion of our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, pure and undefiled 
before God the Father, it will be owned and ac- 
cepted by Him whose name is above every name, 
and before whom every knee must bow. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PREFACE 



CHAPTER I. 

Claudius of Turin . . . ' . . . 13 

CHAPTER II. 

Petkr de Bruys ...... 26 

Hexri of Lausaxne 30 

Arnold of Brescia 38 

CHAPTER III. 

Peter de Waldo .,,,,.. 45 

CHAPTER IV. 

Nicolas of Baslk ....... h\ 

CHAPTER V. 

John Tauleu G2 

CHAPTER VI. 

John Wycliffe ....... 80 

CHAPTER VII. 

Conrad Waldijauser ...... 106 

John Milicz 108 

Matthias of Janow . . . . . ,112 
Matthew of Cracow . , , . . .118 

CHAPTER VIII. 

John Huss 123 

CHAPTER IX. 

Gerhard Groot 170 



(xi) 



Xll CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER X. p,aE 

Thomas a Kempis 179 

CHAPTER XI. 

John Ruchrath, of Wesel 202 

CHAPTER XIT. 

John Wessel 223 

CHAPTER Xllt. 

Jerome Savonarola 237 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Juan Valbes ........ 277 

CHAPTER XV. 

Anne Aske\y 30G 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Michael de Molinos 321 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Jane Mary Guion ....... 342 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

William Deli 428 

CONCLUSION . . . ... . . . , . 461 



REFORMERS AND MARTYRS 



BEFORE AND SINCE 



THE LUTHERAN REFORMATION. 



CHAPTER I. 

CLAUDIUS OF TURIN. 

Before entering on a brief delineation of the life of this 
pioneer of reform in the Roman church, it may be well 
to glance at the rise of certain corruptions of doctrine 
and practice, which had obtained more or less prevalence 
therein previous to the end of the ninth century. 

Most of the corruptions had their origin after the profes- 
sion of Christianity by the Emperor Constantine, which 
took place in the year 312, and the deliberations of the 
Kicene Council, which occurred about thirteen years there- 
after. 

The venerating of "saints' days" has been traced as far 
back as the martyrdom of Polycarp, who was cotemporary 
with the old age of the Apostle John, and suffered death 
at the stake about the year 166. After that, the honoring 
of the yzAdha (literally birthdays), or anniversaries of the 
introduction of the saints by martj^rdom into the heavenly 
life, became a frequent practice ; and in the third century 
this form of superstition had extended so as to include an 
extreme veneration for their relics, if not an adoration of 

2 (13) 



.14 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

them ; their blood being eagerly collected on- sponges, 
cloths, etc., and their bones, and even garments, most sedu- 
lously preserved as holy. In the fourth and fifth centuries 
this veneration for saints had passed into actual worship.* 

Although Ascetics and Hermits were known in the East 
at a ver}^ early date, and even, it has been said, before the 
introduction of Christianity, yet the monastic system, prop- 
erly so called, embracing communities of monks and nuns 
living in seclusion under a lifelong vow, was not known, 
or at least no vestige of it has been discovered, before the 
end of the third century. But in the fourth it appeared 
with vigor, being introduced in Egypt by a friend of the 
celebrated Athanasius, called Saint Anthony, who estab- 
lished several communities called Caenobites in the Lower 
Thebaid, which were soon afterward extended into Upper 
Egypt. And about the year 341, Athanasius himself is 
said to have carried with him to Rome a number of Egyp- 
tian monks of that order ; whose wild aspect, along with 
their devout demeanor, aroused the attention of the Ro- 
mans, and induced the introduction of the system into 
Europe, and the foundation of several monasteries. In the 
fifth century the monastic system had become coextensive 
with the profession of Christianity. 

The exposure of images and paintings of the Virgin Mary 
and of saints in places for public worship, is said to have 
originated in the fourth century. 

In the early part of that century also, the celibacy of 
priests seems to have obtained a foothold, it being then 
established that no priest in the western church should 
marry after ordination. By the end of the fifth century, 
the rule of celibacy was commonly observed by the Romish 
clergy; but it was not strictly and universally enforced for 
several centuries afterward. 

* Waddington's History of the Church, p. 213 



CLAUDIUS OF TURIN. 15 

The practice of private Confession to priests, called au- 
ricular confession, was established by Pope Leo I., sur- 
named the Great, about the middle of the fifth century, and 
gave so vast an addition to the influence of the priesthood 
that it has been considered as the laying of the corner- 
stone of the papal edifice. 

- The doctrine of Purgatory is not mentioned, nor does it 
appear to have been thought of (as afterward held), during 
the first four centuries. It began to obtain belief in the 
fifth and sixth ages, and was established in the church by 
Pope Gregory L, about the end of the latter century. 

The same pope concentrated with the bishopric of Rome, 
the claim to "the power of the Keys of St. Peter," and 
(though with some appearance of caution) evidently aimed 
at establishing the supremacy of the Roman See; though 
both these arrogant assumptions were stoutly and per- 
manently resisted by the Patriarchs of Constantinople on 
behalf of the Eastern or Greek church. 

Gregory also introduced the pompous ceremonies of the 
"Communion," called "the Mass," regulated the prayers 
and chanting of the ceremonial, and established a school of 
chanters about the beginning of the seventh century. 

The appropriation by the priesthood of the use of the 
Holy Scriptures, whereby the Bible was practically with- 
drawn from the knowledge of the people at large, may be 
dated about the seventh century.* 

The doctrine of Transubstantiation, or the assertion that 
the bread and wine of the "Communion" became "the ac- 
tual body and blood of Christ, — the same body which was 
born of the Yirgin Mary, was crucified, and rose again," — 
was broached by Radbert, abbot of Corbie, in 831 ; and 
this doctrine was at length, under the pontificate of Inno- 
cent III., confirmed in the Romish church about the begin- 

* Waddington, p. 692. 



16 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

ning of the thirteenth century. It was, therefore, only be- 
ginning to attract attention, in the age of Claudius of Turin. 
Tithes do not appear to have been claimed by the priest- 
hood, or paid at all, as such, by the ante-Nicene church; 
though Cyprian and Origen gave some hints in regard to 
the Levitical institution, and first fruits under the law. 
Ambrose and Augustine, in the fourth century, implied 
that in their time some such payments were voluntarily 
made ; and the former seems to claim it as a divine requisi- 
tion. Chrysostom and Jerome* favored the same claim ; 
but the system was very gradual in its extension during 
sevei'al centuries, and the first strictly legislative act con- 
ferring on the clergy the right to claim tithe, was passed 
by Charlemagne in the year t18.* But it was found very 
difficult to enforce the collection of tithes, and it Avas. not 
until the end of the twelfth century that the claim could be 
considered as universally admitted. 

Claudius, bishop of Turin, who has been styled '' the 
Protestant of the ninth century," was a native of Spain, 
where he received his early education. As he grew up to 
manhood, he became attached to the clerical portion of the 
household of the Frank King Louis, surnamed the Pious, 
in Auvergne, and remained in this position about three 
years. While in the court of Louis,^ he commenced a 
series of Commentaries on various books of Holy Scripture, 
by writing three books on Genesis, and one on Matthew, 
which he published in the year 815. In 816, he pubhshed 
a Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, soon fol- 
lowed by one on that to the Ephesians, and others on other 
books of the Old and New Testaments at intervals of a few 
years. Neander says that his object in writing these Com- 

«- Waddington, p. 231. 

f Huston's "Israel of the Alps," vol. i. p. 9. English edition. 



CLAUDIUS OF TURIN. IT 

mentaries was the instruction and convenience of those 
ecclesiastics to whom the works of the older church authors 
were not readily accessible. As the Bible had now for 
more than a hundred years been secluded from the people 
at large, he had probably another object in view, to wit, the 
spreading of more correct views in regard to the contents 
of the Holy Scriptures than those which at that time pre- 
vailed. These Commentaries contained many original re- 
marks, explanatory of his own rehgious sentiments, in addi- 
tion to much compiled from the writings of Augustine and 
other ancient authors. 

In the year 814, when Louis had succeeded to the im- 
perial throne of Charlemagne, having imbibed a great re- 
gard for Claudius during his residence in his house, and 
hoping that his influence would be salutary in Northern 
Italy, he nominated him to the bishopric of Turin. On 
entering this new field of labor, his pious zeal, Neander tells 
us, found work enough to do in efforts to reform and im- 
prove a church so sunk in worldly views, ignorance, and 
superstition, as was that in Italy at that day. 

The course taken by Gregory I., called "the Great," 
about the end of the sixth century, although a pontiff of 
uncommon energy and scope of mind, had greatly tended 
to fasten certain superstitious views and practices on the 
Roman church; especially the reverence for images and 
relics, and a belief in miracles performed by them, which 
extended to a degree most absurd and contrary to the com- 
mon sense of mankind. The custom of exposing for public 
reverence in places of worship the images of saints, of the 
Virgin Mary, and even of Christ, which had arisen as early 
as the fourth century, had gradually advanced with the 
progress of bigotry, until the feeling toward these objects 
among the poor ignorant people became one of adoration. 
And though Gregory would not go so far as positively to 



18 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

sanction the actual worship of images, as such, yet he pro- 
fessed to believe that there was a benefit to be derived to 
the illiterate from the exhibition of them, and would not 
have them removed. Thus a sort of passive sanction was 
given by the pontiff to the superstitious veneration in which 
they were more and more held by the public ; which was 
all that was needed, aided as it was by the cupidity of the 
priests- interested in the matter, to promote the prevalency 
of the practice; so that during the succeeding two hundred 
years the worship of images and of the relics of saints be- 
came very general in Italy, though not much prevalent 
among the Pranks, and scarcely if at all allowed of among 
the simple inhabitants of the Alpine valleys of Piedmont. 

The extension of the doctrine of Purgatory, as we have 
already seen, had also been greatly promoted by the same 
pontiff; and likewise the practice of pilgrimage to what 
were deemed holy places. But in nothing perhaps had the 
influence of Gregory more permanently fastened supersti- 
tion on the succeeding ages, than in his extraordinary 
claims on the credulity of the people in regard to the most 
absurd stories of wonderful miracles performed by rehcs of 
the saints. His letter to»the Empress Constantina,* who 
had solicited from him a donation for the enriching of a 
new temple of worship in Constantinople, exhibits a degree 
of bigotry which in our day would be considered unworthy 
of a reasonable intellect. The empress had requested the 
head, or at the least some portion of the body, of the Apos- 
tle Paul, for transportation to her new and splendid shrine, 
in order to give it importance with the people. But 
Gregory assured her that the bodies of the saints could not 
be approached within several feet for the purpose of ab- 
stracting any portion, without death to the daring invader; 
instancing several awful cases in point — one of which was 

'•■• For this letter, see Waddington's History of the Church, p. 152. 



CLAUDIUS OF TURIN. 19 

that a number of workmen engaged in some repairs near 
the tomb of the Saint Laurentius, had accidentally opened a 
portion of the grave and seen his remains, and that they 
all died within ten days. All that the pope would promise 
the empress was, that if it were possible to obtain any 
filings from the chains which the Apostle Paul had worn 
on his neck and hands, he would send them to her; but 
he added that this was very doubtful, for though a certain 
priest was stationed with a file, for the gratification of the 
solicitations of pilgrims, and could sometimes succeed in 
fihng off a few grains from the chains, yet at other times 
all his efforts, though drawing his file over them for a long 
time, could scrape no filings whatever from the relics ! 

Under the powerful influence of pontifical encourage- 
ment, thus given by Gregory and his successors, such 
senseless superstitions ha.d greatly increased in Italy, and 
taken the place of true religion; so that when Claudius 
assumed his episcopal functions in Turin, as JSTeander in- 
forms us, " He saw with extreme pain how the essence of 
Christianity was here placed, in making pilgrimages to 
Rome, in adoring images and relics, in various species of 
outward works ; and how men were taught to trust in the 
intercession of saints, to the neglect of all earnest moral 
efforts of their own. He beheld a superstition which bor- 
dered closely on paganism, obtaining in the worship of 
saints, of images, of the cross, and of relics." With great 
zeal he both wrote and preached* against these supersti- 
tions, and even ejected the images and crosses from the 
places of worship, that they might no longer be objects of 
religious adoration. But, as might have been expected, 
his zeal provoked a bitter animosity on the part of some of 
the priests and people. In one of his works, written some 
years afterward, he says: ''When I was induced to uh- 

* Milner's Church History, vol. iii. p. 209. 



20 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

dertake the office of pastor, and came to Italy, I found, con- 
trary to the true doctrine, all the churches full of the lumber 
of consecrated gifts ; and because I alone began pulling 
down what all adored, I was calumniated by all, and un- 
less the Lord had helped me, they would perhaps have 
swallowed me up alive." Among others who saw their 
craft placed in danger by Claudius's opposition to these 
superstitions, the Pope Paschalis I. was greatly displeased ; 
but the favor of the Emperor Louis probably furnished a 
protection so powerful, that his enemies did not dare to 
put it to the test by commencing a persecution. 

In the year 821, he published four books on Exodus, and 
in 823 a Commentary on Leviticus, which he dedicated to 
an old familiar friend, Theodemir, abbot of a monastery in 
the diocese of Msmes. These were followed by other 
similar works. In his various writings he took decided 
ground in favor of practical religion as opposed to mere 
outward forms ; sanctification of spirit, and genuine love 
to God, were with him of the first importance as character- 
istics of true piety; and he displayed an earnest view of 
the nature of sin, and of the estrangement of the carnal 
nature from God ; having no faith whatever in the monk- 
ish doctrine of the meritorious claims of Avhat were called 
good works. His former friend, however, the Abbot 
Theodemir, was not prepared to undergo the odium of 
uniting with him in his sw^eeping measures of reform, and 
cleared himself of all connection with so dangerous a posi- 
tion by publicly denouncing several of his views (particu- 
larly some in his Commentary on the 1st Epistle to the 
Corinthians) as errors in doctrine. This he did before an 
assembly of bishops and nobles, at a time when Claudius 
supposed him to be still friendly to him. Theodemir did 
not, however, succeed at that time in procuring his con- 
demnation; and when Claudius was afterward informed 



CLAUDIUS OF TURIN. 21 

by his friends of what had taken place, he wrote to Theo- 
demir: ''May the Lord forgive thee — who is the witness 
of my life, and who gave me this work to do." 

Claudius hereupon wrote a work in defense of his doc- 
trines and conduct, wherein, says the translator of Neander, 
"he unfolded his principles with great boldness and the 
most violent zeal."* Whether this " most violent zeal " was 
anything more than the earnest asseverations of a man who 
felt convinced of the truth of the ground on which he stood, 
and of the necessity of maintaining it against all assailants, 
we are not informed; but Neander adds: "He declared 
that on no point had he set forth erroneous doctrines, or 
been a schismatic; but that he held firmly to the unity of 
the church, preached the truth, and defended the church; 
that he had always combated superstition and error, and 
would with God's help always continue to combat them. 
He attacked in this work every mode and form of image- 
worship ; he exposed, as Agobard had done," every false 
plea which could be employed in its palliation. 'If those, 
said he, 'who have forsaken idolatry, worship the images 
of the saints, then they have not forsaken idols, but changed- 
their names. Whether thou paintest thy walls with figures 
of St. Peter and St. Paul, or of Jupiter and Saturn, neither 
the latter are gods, nor the former apostles. If men must 
be worshiped, it were much better to pay that worship to 
the living than to the dead; that is, to that wherein they 
bear the image of God, than to that wherein they are like 
to the brute, or rather to lifeless wood and stone. If the 
works of God's hands (the stars of heaven) ought not to 

* Neander's own expression is, "heftigem Eifer" — simply, sharp or 
vehement zeal, — a comparatively mild term — not even "heftigstem;" so 
that the expression "most violent" is evidently an error of the translator. 
The contents of Claudius's document, as given in Flaccus Illyricus's Cata- 
logus Testium Veritatis, from the work of Jonas of Orleans, his opponent, 
do not warrant any such epithet. 

2* 



22 RErORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

be worshiped, much less ought the works of haman hands 
to be worshiped; even the worship of saints will not bear 
to be excused, for these never arrogated divine honors to 
themselves. Whoever seeks from anv creature in heaven 
or on earth the salvation which he should seek from Grod 
alone, is an idolater.'" 

He objected also to the common custom of making the 
sign of the cross, with the idea of virtue attending it, be- 
lieving that its tendency was to lead away the mind from 
spiritual communion with the Redeemer, and to fix it in- 
stead on outward symbols. In combating carnal views and 
superstitions of this nature, he frequently brought forward 
the Apostle's declaration : " Though we have known Christ 
after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him (thus) no 
more." And he alleged that we have no more obligation to 
worship the cross, than to worship many other outward 
things with which our Saviour came in contact, or was 
connected, while in that body of flesh — such as mangers, 
from his being laid in one when an infant, lambs, from his 
being called ''the Lamb of God," or ships, from the fact 
that he sometimes taught the multitude from on board of 
them. 

Neander gives* this testimony to his spiritual views: 
"To point men away from the sensuous worship; of the 
cross to the spiritual following after Christ in the fellow- 
ship of his sufferings, and in self-renunciation, was to him 
the principal thing ; and hence the vehemence of his zeal 
against everything which tended to draw men away from 
this. Thus, he says, against the fleshly worshipers of the 
cross, 'What they do is quite a different thing from what 
God has commanded. God has commanded us to bear the 
cross, not to adore it. They are for adoring it, because 
they are unwilling to bear it either spiritually or bodily. 

••■ Church History, 2(1 Amer. edit., vol. iii. p. 430. 



CLAUDIUS OP TURIN. 23 

To worship God after this manner means to turn away 
from him ; for he has said, " Whoever will come after me, let 
him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me ;" for 
he who does not break away from himself cannot draw near 
to Him who is higher than himself,' etc. Again, 'By the 
shameful sacrilege of images you estrange them [men] 
from their Creator, and plunge them in everlasting ruin,' 
He invites men to seek after inward fellowship with Christ, 
when he says : ' Ye blind, return to the true light, which 
enlightens every man that cometh into the world; which 
light shineth into the darkness, and the darkness compre- 
hendeth it not ; ye who, not beholding that light, walk in 
darkness and know not whither you go, because the dark- 
ness hath blinded your eyes.'"* 

On the word of the Lord, through the Prophet Ezekiel 
(chap. xiv. V. 14), '' Though these three men — Noah, Dan- 
iel, and Job — were in it, they should deliver but their own 
souls by their righteousness," he observed: "This* is said 
to warn us against trusting to the merits or to the interces- 
sion of saints ; because no one who has not the same faith, 
the same righteousness and truth, whereby the saints ob- 
tained the divine approbation, can be saved." And in 
another place he reminds his readers that before the tribu- 
nal of Christ neither Job, nor Daniel, nor Noah can be of 
any use to us, but each one will have to bear his own bur- 
den, f In accordance herewith, he taught the utter empti- 
ness of the idea of merit attaching to pilgrimages to Rome 

* This primitive doctrine of the Christian religion, preached by Clau- 
dius in the ninth century, of the necessity of looking to and obeying the 
light of Christ, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world, 
and which the world so readily and willingly forgets, had to be pro- 
claimed anew, in the demonstration and power of the gospel, eight hun- 
dred years afterward. 

f Comm. on Galatians, p. 164. "Nee Job, nee Daniel, nee Noe rogare 
posse pro quoquam, sed unumquemque portare onus suum." 



24 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

(except as the Almighty regards with compassion the mo- 
tives of the hoDest-hearted), or that any one thereby made 
himself sure of the intercession of the Apostle Peter. On 
this subject, he says : "One gets no nearer to St. Peter by 
finding hinaself on the spot where his body was buried ; for 
the soul is the real man." He denied that any power to 
bind or loose on earth what had been bound or loosed in 
heaven had been committed continuously to Peter, and 
those who came after him, in a sort of lineal succession. 
And he charged his opponent, the Abbot Theodemir, with 
culpable inconsistency or remissness, in retaining one hun- 
dred and forty monks in his own monastery, subservient 
to himself, instead of sending them to Kome, if his belief 
really was that pilgrimages to Rome were of so great a 
value in securing salvation ; reminding him that there was 
no greater offense than that of preventing men from attain- 
ing to eternal blessedness. 

Theodemir had reproached his former friend with incur- 
ring the displeasure of the " Dominus Apostolicus" — the 
apostolic lord — meaning the pope ; to which Claudius re- 
plied : "The title 'apostolic' does not belong to him who 
administers a bishopric founded by an apostle, but to him 
who truly fulfills the apostolic vocation ; to those who oc- 
cupy the place, without fulfilling the vocation, should be 
applied the passage in Matthew, chap, xxiii. v. 12." He 
considered our Lord Jesus Christ as the true and only 
Head of the Church;* and that it was not allowable to 
obey the pope, further than as the pope himself stood in 
the apostolic doctrine. Thus boldly did Claudius defend 
the cause of practical Christianity, in accordance with the 
measure of light vouchsafed to him. 

Theodemir now thought it necessary, in self-defense, to 
endeavor to sustain his charges; and before long Claudius 

* Huston's " Israel of the Alps/' vol. i. p. 9. 



CLAUDIUS OF TURIN. 25 

was cited to appear before an assembly, of bishops, t.o an- 
swer certain allegations of heretical doctriDe. This cita- 
tion, however, he neglected to attend to, and it fell to the 
ground. But complaints were meanwhile made to the 
Emperor Louis, Avhich came in so authoritative a shape, 
that the monarch at length deemed it advisable to institute 
-an inquiry, especially as a certain Scotchman or Irishman, 
named Dungall, had undertaken to refute Claudius's opin- 
ions, calling on the princes of the empire to stop the spread 
of such errors. Lewis, apparently with some reluctance, 
laid it upon Jonas, Bishop of Orleans, to examine his writ- 
ings, and prepare a refutation of what might be found to 
be heretical in them. But meantime Claudius was taken 
away by death, in the year 839 or 840, and thus probably 
escaped a continued and determined persecution. The 
seed, however, which he had sown was not lost. Many 
congenial minds had received his principles of reform in 
doctrine and life, and their influence was found to have 
extended so much in that part of the Frank empire, that it 
was deemed needful to endeavor to check it by the com- 
pletion of the work of Jonas of Orleans, as ordered by the 
emperor. Whether this work produced the effect desired, 
we are not informed; but the northern parts of Piedmont 
continued for many years to be the seat of much compara- 
tive enlightenment and freedom from the bigotry so preva- 
lent in more southern Italy; and by some writers Claudius 
of Turin has even been considered as the founder of the 
doctrines of the Waldenses.* 

* See Milner's Church History, vol. iii. p. 369, note, and 415 ; and 
Morland's "Evangelical Churches of Piedmont," p. II. 



26 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 



CHAPTER 11. 

PETER DE BRUYS. 

About the year 1110, a preacher named Pierre de Bruys 
made his appearance in the south of France, and began to 
declaim against the corruptions of the church and the vices 
of its ministers. His opinions are now chiefly gathered 
from the representations of his adversaries, and may have 
contained or led him into some extravagancies. Neander 
avows, that "through the devotional study of the New 
Testament, he had embraced the pure worship of God, 'in 
spirit and in trnth.'" Be that as it may, it appears that 
Peter was led to embrace and zealously to promulgate cer- 
tain very extraordinary opinions for that age. Neander 
sa3"s that, " in the heat of an honest disgust, he attacked 
all outward ordinances, as inimical to the true worship of 
God ; because he saw that the multitude confounded the 
means with the end, and placed religion in externals, to 
the prejudice of true devotion and morality. He was thus 
led to reject infant baptism, on account of the superstitious 
and indeed blasphemous representations which had for a 
long time been connected with it, as if those persons only 
could be saved who had received outward baptism. He 
brought forward in evidence the words of Christ, 'Whoso 
believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved.' Thus no vica- 
rious faith could be availing. But he did not stop to ex- 
amine whether, although the outward form of baptism were 
not of and by itself efficacious to the baptized person,' it 
might not yet possess a sacred meaning, grounded on the 
intrinsic essence of Christian truth, and exhibited to man 



PETER DE BRUYS. 27 

through this outward symbol; aud whether the delusion 
might not have originated in the imperfect recognition of 
the relation between the sign, and the internal holiness 
which it symbolized."* 

Neander adds : " In speaking against the conceits which 
his contemporaries had associated with consecrated places, 
he says justly, 'that God may be invoked in all places, 
from the shop as well as from the church and the altar, and 
will ever hear those who are deserving of it — that the 
church is formed, not by the piles of collected stones, but 
by the communion of the faithful.' From thence he drew 
the conclusion that churches [that is, church edifices] in 
general were unnecessary, and must therefore be pulled 
down." 

''Disgusted," Neander adds, "with the pomp of public 
worship, and the multiplied ceremonies which had con- 
verted it into a lifeless mechanical service, and the artificial 
chanting, addressed rather to the senses than the heart, he 
truly says, ' that God taketh pleasure in the pious emotions 
of the heart alone, and that He is neither to be evoked by 
loud-sounding voices, nor conciliated by musical melodies ;' 
but from hence he deduced [what Neander calls] the ex- 
aggerated inference, that 'God is only mocked by church 
chanting.'" . 

We also learn, from the same eminent author, that Peter 
spoke with great warmth against the worship of the cross, 
then so prevalent; going so far even as to say that "the 
cross, as the memorial of the sufferings and martyrdom of 
Christ, ought rather to be despised and banished, in re- 
venge for his death, than to be honored among men." 
This doctrine, calculated to inflame the passions of men 
in that bigoted age, had more in it of personal danger to 

* Neander's Life of Bernard of Clairvaux. 



28 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

himself than any other of his testimonies against the cor- 
ruptions which had crept in. 

He totally rejected also, according to the same authority, 
the celebration of what is called "the Lord's Supper." 
'"Christ/ he said, 'had, once for all, before his suffering, 
produced his body in the bread, and distributed it among 
his disciples ; therefore the celebration was not to be re- 
peated,' ' Oh, trust not,' he exclaimed to the multitude, 
'trust not to your misleading clergy; who, as in many 
other things, so also in the service of the altar, deceive you 
when they feign to produce for you the body of Christ, and 
to deliver it to you for the salvation of your souls !'" 

" The honest man," adds Neander, " spoke sensibly 
enough against the efiicacy of masses and almsgiving for 
the souls of the deceased ; that delusion so prejudicial to 
the cause of practical Christianity. ' Every one,' he as- 
serted, ' suffers after death, according to what may have 
been his deserts in life ; there is no middle state.' " Herein 
he manifestly attacked the favorite dogma of Purgatory. 
He also opposed the observance of ecclesiastical fast days, 
and the abstaining from meats on those days. 

For twenty years De Bruys promulgated such extraor- 
dinary sentiments with as extraordinary impunity and suc- 
cess, in the regions of the Pyrenees, in Provence, Langue- 
doc, and Gascony. It would be difl&cult at this time, and 
with our imperfect sources of information, to determine 
how far his course was led and limited by the Lord's own 
requirings in his soul, or how far he may have participated 
in the heated enthusiasm which is said to have animated 
some of his disciples; who proceeded to destroy altars and 
crucifixes, making fires of their materials, and, it is added, 
even went so far as to personally attack the priests and 
compel the monks to marry. Neander seems to have 
thought that Peter de Bruys was in part accountable for 



PETER DE BRUYS. 29 

these excesses; but he adds: "What other result could 
have been anticipated from the spirit of unbridled liberty 
pervading so rude an age, — when we see that at the kin- 
dred though more advanced era of the reformation, all the 
caution of the reformers was insufficient to prevent men 
from confounding earthly licentiousness with Christian 
freedom, and to restrain the wild bursts of human pas- 
sion ?" 

But these deeds of his followers, particularly of destroy- 
ing the adored crucifixes, though done by one mob, were 
more than another mob — composed of men attached to the 
old forms — could tolerate. The bigoted populace, whose 
feelings were thus outraged, and whose venerated priests 
had been thus insulted, at length rose in counter tumult, 
in the year 1130, seized Peter de Bruys, led him to the 
place of execution, and burned him at the stake, in a 
small town in the province of Languedoc. 

It is evident that he took much the same ground in doc- 
trinal opposition to the Romish Church, that was after- 
ward taken by Luther and his companions; though he 
went further in some points, and may have advanced more 
rashly, and without a due consideration whether the age 
was ripe for measures of so sweeping a nature. His prin- 
ciples are, however, said to have taken deep root in the 
hearts of the people, and to have been cherished by many 
for a long time after his death. 



30 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 



HENRI OF LAUSANNE. 



About the same time that Peter cle Bruys came forth as 
a preacher of reform in the south of France, a youth of 
powerful talents and great mental activity, named Henri, 
incited by similar views, made his appearance in the dis- 
trict of Lausanne, in Switzerland. Meander's Life of Ber- 
nard of Clairvaux* thus delineates his extraordinary course, 
and the results of his teaching : 

''He had been a monk in some monastery of the Cluniac 
order, probably devoted to the cloister by his parents, and 
brought up there. The diligent and devotional perusal of 
the Scriptures had opened his mind to the truth, which he 
ardently embraced in all its purity." [Rather too strong 
an expression of Neander's, considering all the circum- 
stances.] " The picture of the apostles traveling in poverty 
through the world, for the purpose of publishing the truth ; 
that of the affectionate fellowship of the primitive Chris-- 
tians, who, connected b}^ no outward ties, lived together in 
the bond of a common faith and a mutual love, excited a 
holy enthusiasm in his soul, causing him to regard with 
still greater abhorrence the vices of his times and the cor- 
ruption of the church, which had so widely departed from 
the apostolic model. 

''Weary of the constraints of conventual life, and con- 
vinced in his own mind that he was in no wise bound by 
human ordinances, and the obligations grounded upon 
them, he abandoned his convent, in order to publish the 
pure doctrines of the gospel among the people, who were 
totally deficient in clear religious know^ledge ; to rebuke 
their vices from the Bible, and to exhort men to contrition 
and repentance. Pie himself always appeared in the garb 

* English translation by M. Wrench. Lond., 1S43. 



HENRI OF LAUSANNE. 31 

of a penitent, meanly clad, and wearing a flowing beard. 
He went barefoot even in winter, carrying a staff before 
liim, to which a cross was fastened, as a token that liis ob- 
ject was to exhort men to follow the cross of Christ. On 
his arrival in any town, he took up his lodgings indifferently 
with any of the townspeople, and was satisfied with the 
meanest fare. He possessed all those qualities calculated 
to make a powerful impression on the people. His person 
was dignified and commanding, his voice loud and sono- 
rous, and the effect of his discourses was heightened by 
the eloquent expression of a keen and flashing eye. His 
manner was like his character, impassioned; his words 
flowed with a natural eloquence, warm from the heart; 
and he was perfectly familiar with the texts of Scripture 
with which his representations were enforced. The fame 
of his sanctity and learning was soon spread abroad in that 
country; and young and old, men and women, came in 
throngs to confess their sins to him, and went away de- 
claring that they had never before seen a man in whom 
authority and kindness were so admirably blended, at 
whose preaching even a heart of iron might readily be 
moved to repentance, and whose life might serve as a 
model to all monks, hermits, and priests. • 

"In the year 1116, Henri sent two of his disciples, ar- 
rayed in the garb of penitents, and bearing the standard of 
the cross, to the city of Mans, to announce his arrival to 
Bishop Hildebert, and to obtain his permission to preach 
there. The people, to whom Henri was well known by 
reputation, and who had for a long time been anxiously 
desiring an opportunity of seeing and hearing him, re- 
ceived his messengers as angels. At this era it was not 
unusual for monks to travel from country to country, 
preaching repentance. Hildebert therefore deemed Henri 
to be one of these, for he was not yet regarded as a heretic. 



32 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

His discourses had been directed rather toward practical 
Christianity than to dogmatical subjects. He. had at- 
tacked not the doctrines, but the vices of the church. 
Hildebert was one of those better bishops, who had the 
interest of religion at heart, and it was thus a personal 
gratification to him to welcome a man who, possessing 
such power of influencing the mind, made use of it to in- 
cline the heart to good. The bishop was also wise enough 
to perceive that, by refusing him admittance, he should 
only exasperate the people, and render himself obnoxious 
to them. He therefore gave a gracious and hospitable re- 
ception to Henri's messengers, and although he was him- 
self on the eve of a journey to Rome, he left orders with 
his archdeacons, among other charges, to give free admis- 
sion to Henri in his absence, and to allow him full liberty 
of preaching. His orders were obeyed, and Henri soon 
produced the same powerful impression at Maus that he 
had done elsewhere. Many of the inferior clergy, less in- 
fluenced (than those of a more elevated position) by self- 
interest, were attracted by his discourses, and convinced of 
the truth of his allegations relative to the corruption of the 
church. They listened with the most eager attention, and 
were moved to tears by his words. Henri had hitherto 
acted wisely in bringing forward the truths of the gospel, 
and had attacked vice only through the medium of these 
truths, without personality. But the heat of youth now 
urged him to a, series of passionate sallies against the 
clergy." [Or was it that his zeal was enkindled against 
their vicious course, and he could not refrain from expos- 
ing the falsity of their pretensions?] ''And these, as is 
alwaj^s the case, found the readiest reception from the 
people. The clergy became hateful and despicable in their 
eyes. They refused to have any intercourse with them. 
And it was only the protection of the nobles that sheltered 



HENRI OF LAUSANNE. 33 

the priesthood from their threatened vengeance. On one 
occasion, when some of the clergy came to remonstrate 
with Henri, they were so roughly handled by the people 
as to be too happy only to escape in safety. Not daring 
openly to proclaim the sentence of excommunication which 
had been pronounced against him, they sent it in writing 
by one of their members." 

This remarkable document ends with the expression, 
that if he should presume to continue to scatter poison, he 
is excommunicated by the authority of Pope Paschal, the 
successor of Peter, the first of the apostles, and a desire 
that at the dreadful day of judgment Henri may be over- 
taken by the eternal curse of the Almighty ! 

Henri refused to receive the document, not recognizing 
the authority of the tribunal whence it issued, nor the 
truth of its assertions. 

Neander continues : "That Henri, who believed it to be 
his duty far rather to obey the voice of God, by which he 
felt himself called, than the commandments of man, should 
utterly have disregarded this intimation, was but natural ; 
and he went on laboring as before. His influence and 
authority continued to increase in the city. His word be- 
came law. Gold and silver he might have had at his 
pleasure. Had Henri been nothing more than a covetous 
and ambitious demagogue, he might easily have availed 
himself of his influence to enrich himself, and to usurp the 
government of the city, by arming the people against the 
nobility and priesthood. But he made use of his power 
only to realize his own ideas, and accepted only so much 
of the offered gold as he required for the execution of his 
plans. His first object was the establishment of Christian 
brotherly love and fellowship, in opposition to the prev- 
alent corruption of morals and self-seeking worldliness. 
Women who had lived unchastely were to cut off their 



34 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

hair, and burn it, together with their garments, in public, 
in order to deter others from similar courses by this dis- 
grace. Regarding celibacy, and the difficulties thrown in 
the way of marriage by the canonical impediments, as the 
most obvious sources of the prevailing dissoluteness of 
manners, he looked to early marriages as a means of im- 
proving the moral condition; and therefore he himself 
solemnized several marriages between the youths of the 
city, without respect to the canonical hinderances ; which, 
in his opinion, w^ere grounded on human tradition only. 
He believed marriage to be of perpetual obligation, and 
separations between those whom God had joined together 
inadmissible on any grounds. The woman took an oath 
before Henri, that she would preserve inviolable fidelity 
to her husband for life, and thr^t she would renounce all 
pomp of dress — im this age the source of the most lavish 
expenditure. No considerations of property were in future 
to influence the matrimonial connection. Neither gold uor 
silver — neither dower nor possessions — ought to be the 
objects sought in each other by those wiiom God had 
brought together in a holy union. The distinctions oc- 
casioned by worldly possessions should be removed by 
Christian love. He therefore, in opposition to the existing 
custom, celebrated marriages between the free and those 
who had served as bondmen, — clothing the latter out of the 
fund he had formed with the money which had been given 
him. 

''This was all beautiful and sublime, as flowing from 
a heart that had its home in a better world. It would 
have been well if such a community as Henri represented 
to himself could have existed in a world so beset with cor- 
ruption and variety of hinderances ; or if he could have 
looked into the hearts of those whom he thus united. 

''The news of Hildebert's return from Rome induced 



HENRI OF LAUSANNE. 35 

Henri to withdraw to some of the neighboring castles, 
from whence he continued his labors. The bishop made 
his entrance into the city, followed by a brilliant retinue; 
But he found that a great change had taken place, and 
when he would have given his blessing to the people, they 
contemptuously rejected it, exclaiming, 'We desire neither 
your learning nor your blessing. Let it fall to the ground. 
For we have a father and a priest who surpasses you in 
dignity, in sanctity of life, and in learning — him your 
clergy despise as a blasphemer. We feel that he laj^s bare 
their vices with a prophetic spirit, and rebukes their errors 
and excesses from the Holy Scriptures. But vengeance 
will swiftly overtake them, for having presumed to forbid 
the holy man to publish the word of the Lord.' 

"It was a task of much difficulty to restore peace be- 
tween the clergy and the highly exasperated people ; but 
Hildebert's prudence and gentleness contributed greatly 
toward effecting it. A demagogue, who had been in- 
debted for his reputation solely to those arts by which the 
hearts of the people are to be won, would have been quickly 
forgotten. The foundation of Henri's influence lay deeper. 
After the lapse of years, and the dissemination of the most 
scandalous reports concerning the life of the 'heretic,' his 
memory was still affectionately cherished in the minds of 
the people. 

"Henri now turned to the south of France, and at Poi- 
tou, Bordeaux, and other cities, he produced a powerful im- 
pression. Coming farther south, he fell in with Pierre de 
Bruys, the man who was actuated by a like spirit ; they 
united and labored in common. After the death of Pierre 
de Bruys, Henri became the leader of the sect, and made 
journeys throughout Provence, Languedoc, and Gascony. 
The- bishops who presided over these provinces, and had 
been earnestly exhorted by Peter of Clugni to suppress the 



36 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

prevailing heresies, now strove, by every means in their 
power, to possess themselves of the person of the leader; 
and at length, in the year 1134, the Bishop of Aries suc- 
ceeded in securing Henri, whom he took with him to the 
Council then held at Pisa. Here he was compelled [it is 
said] to retract all the errors of which he was accused. 

''We must have a more 'accurate knowledge of the cir- 
cumstances of the case, before we can venture to determine 
whether Henri really betrayed his convictions ; for we learn 
from ecclesiastical history how little to be trusted are the 
statements of adverse partisans He was there given over 
to the custody of the Abbot of Clairvaux ; but we soon find 
him again at liberty, probably owing to the negligence of 
Bernard, whose attention was at that time absorbed by 
greater matters, the restoration of peace to the Italian 
church. 

" It was in the mountainous country about Toulouse and 
Albi, that Henri now made his appearance. The nature 
of the country rendered it a safe asylum to the sectaries ; 
and the great feudatories who were seated there, instigated 
either by the preaching of Henri, or by their own hatred 
toward the ambitious clergy, found many adherents both 
among the inferior burghers and among the handicraftsmen, 
especially the weavers. His opponent Bernard has left the 
following picture of his influence: 'The churches are with- 
out congregations, the congregations without a priest. 
The priests are no longer treated with the reverence due to 
them. The churches are avoided as though they were syna- 
gogues. The sanctuary of the Lord is no longer held sa- 
cred ; the sacraments are no longer reverenced ; the festivals 
no longer observed. Men die in their sins, and souls are 
hurried before the awful judgment-seat of God without hav- 
ing been reconciled to Him hy penance, or strengthened by 
the supper of the Lord. The way to Christ is closed against 



HENRI or LAUSANNE. 3t 

the children of Christians; the grace of baptism is denied; 
and those ^Yhom the Saviour called to Him with fatherly 
love, ' Suffer the little children to come unto me,' are no 
longer permitted to draw nigh unto heaven." 

What should we now say of the professed minister of 
Christ who would substitute reconciliation hy penance for 
reconciliation by Christ, and who would assert that the de- 
nial of baptism by water had closed the way to the Saviour 
and to heaven ? 

j^eander proceeds to say that, ** alarmed at the growing 
influence of Plenri, whose doctrines were spreading more 
and more widely in the south of France, and who was now 
openly protected by several of the principal nobles, in partic- 
ular by the Count of Toulouse ; Pope Eugenius, w^ho was at 
this time residing in France, dispatched the cardinal bishop 
Allerich of Ostia, accompanied by other bishops, into the 
south, with instructions to suppress the sect The legate, 
knowing Bernard's power over the minds of men, persuaded 
him to join the expedition, and to him the cardinal was in- 
debted for the final success of his efforts." " Bernard's ar- 
rival and preaching wrought a powerful effect in the city of 
Toulouse (and Albi), and Henri and his adherents were 
forced to make their escape." 

''It was in the castles of the nobles that the Henricians 
now found their chief security ; for Bernard had persuaded 
most of the people to unite in a league against the ' heretics' ; 
by which they bound themselves to exclude them from the 
rights of burghership, and to renounce all commerce with 
them." "He urged them to pursue the 'heretics', till they 
had utterly driven them out of their borders ; ' for,' said he, 
'the sheep are not safe while there are serpents in their 
neighborhood.'" And while exhorting them to practise 
hospitality, he added the warning, " Receive not any strange 
or unknown preacher, unless he be sent by the pope or 

3 



38 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

by your bishop ; for there be preachers, who, assuming the 
appearance of piety, and renouncing its ways, introduce pro- 
fane novelties in word and thought, mingh'ng poison with 
honey." 

"Henri himself was captured shortly after these trans- 
actions, through the exertions of the bishops, and led in 
chains before Pope Eugenius, at the Council of Rheims. 
But at the intercession of the Archbishop of Rheims his 
sentence was mitigated to perpetual imprisonment in some 
convent, where he soon afterward died," in the year 1148. 



ARNOLD OF BRESCIA. 

Among the pupils of the celebrated Peter Abelard, be- 
fore the middle of the twelfth century, was a youth from 
the city of Brescia, in the Tyrol, named Arnold. Nean- 
der's Life of Bernard of Clairvaux contains a brief notice 
of this young man, the most interesting particulars of 
which are as follows, showing him to have a true place 
among the precursors of the reformation of the sixteenth 
century. 

''He attended," says Neander, *'on Abelard's teach- 
ing, and, like the rest of his disciples, led an ascetic life, 
seeking rather to satisfy the cravings of the spirit than to 
minister to their personal necessities. When Abelard rep- 
resented the directing of the abstracted spirit to the con- 
templation of the Divine and Eternal One, as the necessary 
peculiarity of a monk ; when in the lives of the apostles he 
drew the portrait of genuine Christian teachers ; when he 
referred the church to her proper spiritual influence,* and, 
transported in these moments of pious zeal beyond the 

*■ It must not, liowever, be forgotten that Abelard is said to have taught 
some sad and dangerous errors. 



ARNOLD OF BRESCIA. 39 

limits of the church system, forgot its restraints ; then did 
his words imprint themselves deeply on Arnold's mind. 
He embraced with ardor the image presented in the apos- 
tolic Avritings, of the activity of the apostles, and the lives 
of the primitive Christians; and this served to augment 
his displeasure when he beheld the degeneracy of the 
clergy, and the corruptions of the church from its connec- 
tion with the world. He went beyond his teacher in his 
controversy with the church ; the ardor of his disposition 
rendering him bolder and more free. Possessed by the 
idea of a genuine Christian church, working only by spir- 
itual means, and for spiritual ends, he sought its realiza- 
tion, and would fain have overthrown whatever of godless 
and earthly opposed this realization." 

From France ''Arnold returned to his native country a 
new man. He separated himself from the secular clergy, 
and appeared in the garb of a monk. The innocency and 
austerity of his life was never impeached, even by his ad- 
versaries ; although they were wont to speak of it as a hypo- 
critical mask, assumed by him in order the more readily to 
gain admittance for his heretical doctrines. With glowing 
eloquence he openly opposed to the worldly and vicious 
lives of the clergy and monks the doctrines and examples 
of the Bible, and ascribed the corruptions of the church to 
their having overstepped the boundaries of their real influ- 
ence and peculiar jurisdiction, to appropriate to themselves 
the wealth, honors, and privileges of the courts. He 'de- 
clared that the monks and clergy ought to live together 
after the model of the apostles, in the communion of love, 
and to abandon all temporal possessions ; that the abbots 
and bishops should resign all their temporalities and regali- 
ties, all worldly rank and jurisdiction, to their respective 
sovereigns, by whom the wealth Avhich the clergy had 
abused to the purposes of luxury and sensuality should 



40 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

be administered for the benefit of their people. The first- 
fruits and tithes of the agricultural produce he would have 
assigned as most suitable for the support of the clergy in 
the bare necessaries of life; which, if they devoted them- 
selves entirely to the duties of their calling, would be all 
they would desire. 

"Arnold, who was chiefly anxious aho at practical Chris- 
tianity, does not seem to have opposed further the dogmas 
of his church ; but it is probable that his practical mysti- 
cism might have led him (when speaking against the cere- 
monial worship as prejudicial to the religion of the heart) 
into an actual or apparent deviation from the form of the 
church-teaching. Thus it might be, that in urging genuine 
conversion of the heart, he maintained that* mere ouiivard 
baptism was in and of itself inefficacious to man unless 
connected with that alone effectual baptism of the Holy 
Ghost, through which the truly believing soul is purified 
and sanctified; that man was not reconciled to God by the 
outward participation of the Lord's Supper, but by that 
internal faith of the soul through which, by receiving Christ 
into it, man becomes united Avith Him in his heart, and 
manifests this union by a holy life. 

''Arnold's animated discourses captivated the minds of 
those men who were as yet insensible of the vivifying 
power of religion (through the fault of the very ministers 
appointed to proclaim it), and their displeasure naturally 
fellupon those to whom the key of knowledge had been in- 
trusted, and who entered not in themselves, and hindered 
those who would have entered. The clergy became the 
objects of general odium and derision. The magic pomp 
of the priests no longer made any impression on the people. 
There mi^ht, indeed, according to the usual course of hu- 

*■ The expressions italicized are particularly placed as emphatic by 
Neander. 



ARNOLD OP BRESCIA. 41 

man events, be a mingling of impure motives with the 
purity of Arnold's purposes. The principle so loudly as- 
serted by him, that all temporal possessions ought to be 
restored by the church to the state, to which they belonged, 
might indeed allure the desires of the covetous, and partic- 
ularly of the great. 

" The Bishop of Brescia, when he found the formidable 
consequences resulting to the church from Arnold's agency, 
accused him as a disturber of the public peace, at the Coun- 
cil held by Innocent II., at Rome, in the year 1139. The 
pope enjoined him silence, and banished him from Italy 
(branding his opinions with the name of 'heresy of the 
politicians');* and he was forced to bind himself by an 
oath not to return to that country during the life of this 
pope without his express permission. He returned to 
France just at the time when Abelard was hotly attacked 
by his enemies ; and this circumstance did but cause him 
to adhere the more zealously to his old master, whose dis- 
interested boldness he regarded as the origin of his perse- 
cutions. He thus drew upon himself the same odium that 
Abelard had incurred, and Bernard denounced him to the 
pope as Abelard's armor-bearer and herald. He incurred 
the same sentence as his teacher, being like him excommu- 
nicated, and condemned to imprisonment in a convent. 

"In Abelard's case the sentence had been made void by 
the humane arrangement of the Abbot Peter of Clugni 
[receiving him as an inmate of his monastery with the 
sanction and indulgence of the pope upon his expressed 
submission]. But the youthful Arnold was little disposed 
thus to seek rest and peace by silence and retirement. 
Not one among the French bishops was found who would 
put the sentence against Arnold into execution ; and being 
driven out of France, and repairing to the neighboring 

* Sismondi's Hist, of the Italian Republics. 



42 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

country of Switzerland, he found an asylum at Zurich, 
where his presence was tolerated by the Bishop of Con- 
stance." Sismondi says he influenced the citizens of Zurich 
to form a free constitution. 

His "discourses were very influential in Zurich. We 
now lose sight of him for some years, but his principles 
had already produced an effect independent of his personal 
influence. These had become well known at Rome, through 
the papal condemnation, and had excited great attention." 

Pope Innocent II. died in the year 1144, in the midst of 
great commotions in his capital, and strife between him 
and the Roman nobles. Soon afterward, either during the 
brief pontificate of his successor, Celestin II., who reigned 
only five months, or about the beginning of that of Lucius 
II., Arnold returned to Italy, and made his appearance at 
Rome. Here he seems to have taken part in the political 
struggles. "It appeared to him that it was through the 
usurpations of the church in temporal matters that the 
Roman Empire had lost its power and greatness, and the 
church its purity and its spiritual character. Arnold in- 
flamed the Romans still more by reproving, from the 
Bible, the ambition of the popes and the vices of the Rom- 
ish court. He pointed, as the source of all this corruption, 
to the temporal dominion which the popes had arrogated 
to themselves, and which he declared to be as little consist- 
ent with their position as with that of the clergy in gen- 
eral. They also ought to live on the offerings of the con- 
gregation. Stimulated by his harangues, the Romans 
estabhshed themselves in the possession of the Capitol, de- 
termined on reviving their ancient Roman constitution, 
the senate, and the equestrian order, and invited the Em- 
peror Konrad to repair to Rome, and there set up the seat 
of his empire." 

"Arnold placed too much confidence in the enthusiasm 



ARNOLD OP BRESCIA. 43 

of the fickle and light-minded Romans, which did not in 
general, like his, originate in the purest of motives. And 
he did not possess sufficient calmness to estimate the power 
of purposes, originating in temporary circumstances, on 
the minds of men. The Emperor Konrad regarded the 
language of the Romans as idle talk, and (on the other 
hand) received the embassy dispatched by the pope to 
solicit his protection, in the most respectful manner. 

"Pope Lucius assembled a numerous body of armed 
men, and attacked the Capitol ; but he was repulsed, and 
received a severe wound from a stone in the struggle, from 
the effects of which he died, in the spring of 1148." 

A monk who had been emplo3^ed in very humble duties 
in the monastery of Clairvaux, under Bernard, was now 
elected pope, and took the name of Eugenius III. But he 
was driven from Rome, and took up his residence at Yi- 
terbo, until at length the opposition was subdued and he 
was enabled to return to the city. 

"Rome," saj^s Neander, ''was the last place where Ar- 
nold's pure spirit could have any influence. He had de- 
ceived himself when he had relied on finding, in that cor- 
rupt city, men capable of embracing his ideas, and of be- 
coming animated by them in their purity. The spirit of 
wild rebellion, of passion, and of earthly covetousness 
ruled in Rome." 

Neander here leaves him, and our information respect- 
ing Arnold from that period to the time of his death is 
very meagre. In the year 1154, the only Englishman who 
ever attained to that office, Nicholas Breakspeare, who 
had risen from a menial condition of life, was elected 
pope, and took the name of Adrian lY. He was a man of 
great energy and resolution, and in his contests with the 
Roman people, one of his cardinals being dangerously 
wounded in a popular tumult, he placed the city under an 



44 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

interdict, closing the places of worship and forbidding all 
religious services. This alarmed the fickle and supersti- 
tious populace, who, headed by the priests, supplicated the 
pope's recall of the formidable edict, so that they might 
once more be consoled by the formalities on which they 
were wont to place so great dependence. Adrian, how- 
ever, would not relent until Arnold and his associates were 
expelled from Rome. 

According to Waddington's History of the Church, 
Arnold soon afterward fell into the power of the Emperor 
Frederick Barbarossa, who was then in Italy, and who de- 
livered him up to the pope. " He was conducted to Rome 
and subjected to the partial judgment of an ecclesiastical 
tribunal. His guilt was eagerly pronounced, the prefect 
of the city delivered his sentence, and he was burned alive, 
in the presence of a careless and ungrateful people. But 
lest this same multitude, with the same capriciousness, 
should presently turn to adore the martyr, and offer wor- 
ship at his tomb, his ashes were contemptuously scattered 
over the bosom of the Tiber." 

Sismondi says that he " was burned alive before the gate 
of the castle of St. Angelo, in the year 1155. But his pre- 
cepts survived, and the love of liberty in Rome did not 
perish with hira."* And Waddington adds to the account 
of his martyrdom, that "in respect to his disputes with 
the church, we may venture to rank Arnold of Brescia 
among those earnest but inconsiderate reformers, whose 
premature opposition to established abuses produced little 
immediate result except their own discomfiture and de- 
struction ; but whose memory has become dear, as their 
example has been useful, to a happier and a wiser posterity; 
whom we cele1)rate as martyrs to the best of human prin- 
ciples, and whose very indiscretions we account as zeal 
and virtue." 

* " History of the Italian Republics." 



PETER DE WALDO. 45 



CHAPTER III. 

PETER DE WALDO. 

Pierre de Yaux, or Peter Waldo, was a wealthy citizen 
of Lyons, born at the town of Waldum, or Yaux, in the 
vicinity of that city, and derived his surname from the place 
of his nativity. It has been supposed, from his having 
subsequently become eminent as a preacher among the 
Waldenses, that this people obtained their appellation from 
him; but this appears to be a mistake, inasmuch as the 
name of Waldenses, or Yaudois (valley-people), was given 
to those primitive children of the Alpine recesses long before 
his appearance among them. It is, however, very probable 
that his connection with them, and his agency in develop- 
ing them as a distinct people in active, as they had been 
before in comparatively passive and silent opposition to 
Romish corruptions and encroachments, as well as the 
greater extension of their peculiar doctrines and practices 
from the time of Waldo's zealous and effective engage- 
ments among- them, may have given him a claim to be con- 
sidered in some sort as the founder of that denomination 
of Christians. 

The time of his birth is supposed to have been about the 
beginning of the twelfth century. No account remains, so 
far as appears in history, of his education or early life ; 
but he is stated to have possessed considerable learning, 
and seems to have been engaged for some years success- 
fully in the pursuits of trade. 

A remarkable circumstance was the means of awakening 
his mind to a conviction of the uncertainty of time, and the 

3* 



46 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

necessity of experiencing a preparation for eternity. But 
Ave are not informed at what period of his life this change 
in his character took place. .He had supped one night 
with some opulent citizens of Lyons, and before separating, 
they engaged, as was common, in some amusement. In 
the midst of the sport, one of the company profanely used 
the name of the Almighty with an oath, and instantly fell 
dead on the floor. This sudden and awful event struck 
Waldo to the heart to such a degree that from that time he 
resolved to make the welfare of his soul his principal con- 
cern.* It is said that he formed a firm resolution thence- 
forward to detach his affections from earthly entangle- 
ments, to fix them on heaven and heavenly things, and to 
pass the remainder of his days as a ''fellow-citizen with 
the saints, and of the household of Grod." 

He now applied himself diligently to the perusal of the 
Holy Scriptures and the works of the ancient Christian 
writers, and thus became acquainted with the doctrines 
and practices of the early church. Some authors say that 
he occupied himself in translating some portions of the 
Bible into the Romance language, the vernacular tongue 
of that part of France ; but it seems more probable that 
he employed others in this work; and Neander gives us 
the names of two individuals, Stephen de Ansa and Ber- 
nard Ydros, whom he hired to translate for him the four 
gospel narratives and some other portions of the Bible, as 
well as a collection of the sayings of the early authors on 
matters of faith and practice. The same historian informs 
us that copies of his version of the Holy Scriptures (being 
afterward extended to the whole Bible) were multiplied 
by him for circulation among the people at large. 

He bestowed his wealth with great generosity in reliev- 
ing and assisting the poor, and sending forth missionaries 

* Blair's History of the Waldenses, vol. i. p. 249. 



PETER DE WALDO. 47 

among the people of the country around Lyons. He pro- 
posed to form a society for the spread of evangelical truth 
among the more neglected inhabitants both of city and 
country, not particularly for an actual and open opposition 
to the doctrines of the papal system, but for the promotion 
of spiritual and practical religion, which was the great de- 
sideratum in his view. 

His own house soon became a common resort for those 
who needed his aid in their outward necessities, and like- 
wise for many who sought his advice and instruction on 
religious subjects. The number of his disciples increasing 
rapidly, he undertook to preach more openly in public 
places ; and so many were attracted by his discourses that 
the usual houses for worship were comparatively deserted. 
In his preaching he took pains to prove his doctrines from 
the Holy Scriptures, and boldly asserted that the Church 
of Rome was in a state of apostasy from the true faith of 
the gospel, that she was the harlot of Babylon, and the 
barren fig-tree which our Lord cursed; that we are not 
bound to obey the pope, who is not the true head of the 
church ; that monasticism is like corrupt carrion, and has 
the mark of the beast; and that masses, purgatory, the 
dedication of temples, and the worship of the saints, are 
inventions of the devil.* 

After a time he began to preach, not only in Lyons, but 
likewise in the surrounding country, and sent forth nume- 
rous coadjutors to propagate the same doctrines, who met 
with a hearty welcome among congenial souls in the spurs 
and valleys of the Alps. His life, meanwhile, was con- 
sistent with his doctrines, and even his enemies have con- 
ceded to him a charity and Christian piety altogether rare 
in that corrupt age. Indeed, his character for virtue and 
integrity was beyond reproach. Blair says that "notwith- 

•!• Blair's History of the Waldenses. 



48 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

standing the opposition of the pope and clergy," his suc- 
cess as a preacher "was most singular. Some authors 
affirm that he and his followers denied swearing, and all 
forms of supplication, except 'the Lord's prayer.' Their 
other prayers would be extemporaneous. Be this as it 
may, Waldo and his felloAv-laborcrs went on teaching all 
who chose to listen. They blamed the vice and luxury, 
the excesses and arrogance, of the pope and his dignitaries. 
In short, the new preachers removed almost all the sanc- 
tions of the Roman church as useless and superstitious." 
And it appears from the account given by Neander, that 
they not only disapproved of oaths, but also "held it un- 
christian to shed blood." For he tells us that a few years 
afterward, Pope Innocent III., being desirous to con- 
ciliate the Waldenses, granted permission (with certain 
reservations) to those of them who could be persuaded to 
remain in allegiance to Rome, not only to form a spiritual 
society among themselves, after the manner of other reli- 
gious orders, but to be exempt from the liability "to be 
called upon for military service against Christians, or to 
take an oath in civil processes." How long they held these 
views on war and oaths, we are not informed, though it 
does not by any means appear that in their oft-repeated 
persecutions they always adhered to them. 

At length the attention of the Counc^il of Tours was di- 
rected to the heresies, so called, prevailing in the valleys 
of Piedmont and the district around Lj^ons ; and the Arch- 
bishop of Lyons, alarmed at Waldo's progress, prohibited 
him and his companions from further spreading their senti- 
ments, alleging that they, being only laymen, transcended 
the limits of their position in societ}^, in taking upon them 
the function of preachers. He threatened that if the prac- 
tice was persisted in, it should be met with excommunica- 
tion and the punishment of heresy. But Waldo* replied, 

•••• Milner's Church History, vol, iii. p. 419. 



PETER DE WALDO. 49 

"that in a matter of such infinite importance as the salva- 
tion of men, he could not hold his peace, and that he must 
obey God rather than man." In accordance with the ful- 
mination of the Council of Tours, the archbishop then 
endeavored to apprehend him ; but Waldo continued in and 
about Lyons for three years afterward, notwithstanding 
the archbishop's efforts to have him arrested ; being pro- 
tected by his friends and relatives, some of whom were 
persons of much influence. At length, however, in the 
year 1166, the archbishop succeeded so far in his plans as 
to compel Peter Waldo and his followers to retire from the 
city to distant places. Neander says that they appealed 
to Pope Alexander III., transmitting to him a copy of 
their Romance Bible, and soliciting his approbation of 
their spiritual society ; that the subject was discussed be- 
fore the Lateran Council in lltO, but that the pope refused 
their petition and forbade them to continue to preach. 

''They were dispersed," says Du Thou, "as strangers 
through the province of Narbonne, Lombardy, and espe- 
cially among the Alps, where, having obtained a secure 
retreat, they lay hid for many years." And he adds that 
"Peter Waldo, being chased from Lyons, retired into the 
Low Countries, had a great number of followers in Pic- 
ardy, passed. into Germany, visited the towns of Saxony, 
and at last settled in Bohemia." He diligently propagated 
his sentiments in the various places where he travelled. 
By the accounts of other authors, it appears that on leav- 
ing Lyons he first proceeded into Dauphiny, making a 
great impression among the peasants of the mountains in 
that district, and founding congregations which withstood 
the assaults of persecution for many years. He next went 
into Provence, and thence into Languedoc, where he left 
zealous pastors over numerous flocks, in the field formerly 
occupied by Peter de Bruys and his companion Henri. 



50 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

Thence he appears to have travelled northward into Pic- 
ardy, where great multitudes adhered to his doctrines, who 
were afterward subjected to severe persecution. Here, in 
1188, their enemies destroyed three hundred mansions of 
the more opulent among them, razed several of their 
walled towns, and consigned many of the inhabitants of 
the district to the flames. 

Proceeding into the Netherlands and Flanders, he after- 
ward visited Germany, and especially labored zealousty in 
Saxony; after which he settled in Bohemia for the brief re- 
mainder of his life. Blair relates, on the authority of a 
Bohemian historian, that the disciples of Waldo, driven 
from France, arrived in Bohemia in the year 11*16, and hav- 
ing selected for their residence Saaz and Laun on the Eger, 
they obtained an immense number of associates. But he 
does not state whether this was the district to which 
Waldo's own steps were directed. It would appear that 
they found in Bohemia congenial spirits, and were instru- 
mental in leading many of these to a still purer doctrine, a 
more simple mode of worship than the Greek, to which 
they had been accustomed, and a stricter discipline. 

The accounts, however, of the latter days of Peter Waldo 
are extremely defective, and contradictory in regard to 
dates. All that is certain appears to be the fact that in 
Bohemia he found not only an open door for his teachings, 
but also a secure asylum from ecclesiastical persecution, 
and a peaceful resting-place for his declining days. It is 
said by Milner that he died there in the year 1179; though 
even the date of his death is a matter of doubt, some au- 
thors alleging that 1184 was the year of his retirement to 
Bohemia. 

Muston* assures us that 1179 was the year when Waldo 
presented to the pope a translation of the Bible into the 

* Muston's " Israel of the Alps/' vol. i. p. la. 



NICOLAS OP BASLE. 51 

vulgar tongue; and was present at the Council of Lateran, 
where, according to the relation of Mapes, Archdeacon of 
Oxford, who was present at that Council, the pope showed 
Waldo some favor, and sanctioned his preaching, under 
certain restrictions. Muston adds that Waldo was con- 
demned by Lucius III. in the Council of Yerona, in 1184, 
when the emperor was exerting himself to extirpate "her- 
etics;" and alleges that it was in consequence of this con- 
demnation that, between 1185 and 1188, Waldo and his 
disciples were expelled from Lyons. 



CHAPTER lY. 



NICOLAS OF BASLE. 



One of the most remarkable witnesses to the spirituality 
of true religion during the fourteenth century was Nicolas 
of Basle, a man who rather sought concealment or retire- 
ment than notoriety, and some of whose services in the 
cause of Christ were only identified with his name more 
than 450 A'ears after he had sealed his testimony in the 
flames of the stake. He has, of later times, been ascer- 
tained to have been the long unknown instrument of a 
memorable change in the views and experience of the cel- 
ebrated John Tauler, by which that eminent man was 
brought to a heartfelt acknowledgment of the necessity of 
the inward work of the Holy Spirit, and to a practical expe- 
rience of its cleansing and sanctifying operations during 
the rest of his life. This occurred about the year 1340. Nic- 
olas appears to have been born about or soon after the com- 



52 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

mencementof the fourteenth century, of a respectable family 
at Basle in Switzerland, and was a youth of good abilities 
and well esteemed ; but being educated as a layman, pre- 
tended to no erudition, and had not for some years even 
the privilege of reading the Holy Scriptures. But it ap- 
pears that he was in his youth visited with close convic- 
tions for sin, which resulted in great mental conflict for 
several years. Not being much acquainted with the way 
of the Lord, he sought to obtain religion by the efforts of 
his own reasoning powers ; but found it in vain to en- 
deavor in this way to fortify himself against temptation. 
S. Winkworth's Life of Tauler relates of this period of the 
life of Nicolas, that " one day, as he was meditating on the 
transitory nature of all earthly things, and the rapid flight 
of time, the thoughtlessness, sinfulness, and forgetfulness 
of God in all those around him were presented in such 
vivid colors to his mind, that it seemed inconceivable to 
him how man could take any delight in this vain world. 
And then, as the thought of his own wasted time rose to 
his remembrance, he was filled with such bitter remorse, 
that he resolved from that moment to renounce the world 
and dedicate his life to God." 

He then began to peruse the lives of the saints (so es- 
teemed by professors of that day), and to imitate the aus- 
terities with which some of them had sought to eradicate 
the carnal propensities of their nature. This kind of 
bodily exercise he continued for about five years, until it 
pleased the Most High, by the inshinings of the true Light 
in his soul, to show him a more perfect way than that of 
outward penances. After a time, it seems, he had op- 
portunities of reading the Holy Scriptures, though it is 
uncertain in what language he perused them, as he was 
not learned in the Latin, in which tongue only, at that 
period, the Bible was generally accessible. He thought 



NICOLAS OF BASLE. 53 

he had divine assistance in his application to the Holy 
Scriptures, and he says he was enabled, in about eight 
months, to understand them as well "as if he had studied 
all his days in the universities." 

About that time, the most spiritual professors of religion 
in Germany and the neighboring countries were often des- 
ignated as the "Friends of God," and this, sometimes, 
under circumstances which seem to indicate more or less 
of an association together into a communityj though it 
does not appear that they ever separated organically or as 
a sect from the prevalent Roman church. It is clear that 
to some extent they had a common faith, and common 
views of the necessity of the spiritual life, and fellowship 
among each other as reformers of the practical corruptions 
of the times. Yet the most deeply spiritual men among 
them do not seem to have seen through many of the cor- 
ruptions of doctrine which for ages had cast so deep a 
shade over the religion of Europe. They had glimpses 
thereof, and in their own life and conduct, as well as their 
expressed sentiments, often showed that they lived in an 
atmosphere raised far above these corruptions ; and some 
of them, as we shall see, were willing to die for their tes- 
timony to the spirituality of true religion ; yet they were 
not as a body led into open opposition to the Romish sys- 
tem. The times did not seem prepared to receive such a 
development at large. They maybe said to have "worked 
out their own salvation with fear and trembling," in obe- 
dience to the degree of light vouchsafed, though still ad- 
hering to many errors of education, and tarnished with 
some superstitions. The writer of the Life and Times of 
Tauler, above quoted, and from whom we gather most of 
our information respecting Nicolas of Basle, expresses the 
opinion that " in the first instance, the sense of having en- 
tered into a living personal union with God, bringing with 



54 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

it a yearning pity for sinners, and a fervent desire to bring 
them to the same blessed state, was the sole distinction and 
bond of the 'Friends of God.'" To these people Nicolas 
soon attached himself, rather than enter tha lists of the 
formal priesthood, which was so common a resort of those 
religiously inclined in those ages ; and he acquired eventu- 
ally great influence among them. 

In the year 1340, he informed Tauler that for twelve 
years he had been the subject of the " wonderful dealings 
of God," though conscious of being but a poor sinner. It 
is probable there were at times, owing to his ardent imag- 
ination, and in accordance with the spirit of the age, some 
fantasies mixed more or less with true spiritual experience. 
We find him relating that on • one occasion, during the 
night, an ardent longing came over his soul, so that he ex- 
claimed : "Oh, eternal and merciful God, that it were Thy 
will to give me to discover something that should be above 
all our sensual reason !" Yet immediately a sense of pre- 
sumption in this request alarmed him, and he prayed for 
forgiveness for its having entered into the heart of such a 
poor worm as himself to desire so great a gift of so rich a 
grace, when at the same time he was sensible that he had 
not always lived as he should have done, nor been thank- 
ful enough to the Lord, nor worthy of his favors. With 
this he resorted once more to scourging himself for his sin, 
until the blood ran down his shoulders. After a short 
time he believed himself favored of the Lord with a divine 
visitation of a wonderful nature, " insomuch," says he, 
"that I could have cried, with St. Peter, Lord, it is good 
for me to be here !" " In that hour," he adds, " I received 
more truth and more illumination in my understanding 
than all the teachers could ever teach me from now till the 
day of judgment, by word of mouth, with all their natural 
learning and science." However this may have been, 



NICOLAS OF BASLE 55 

whether this was all true experience, or somewhat ampli- 
fied in his warm imagination, there can be no reason to 
doubt that it was a time of divine visitation to his soul, 
in which he received deep spiritual instruction. And 
going on in obedience to his convictions of duty, he learned 
more and more of the nature of true reli^-ion, and became 
a highly prized adviser of many in times of sore perplex- 
ity. That part of Europe was for some years the scene 
not only of political strife and war, but also of many af- 
flictions, by pestilence, famine, and tempests ; so that it 
might be said, "men's hearts failed them for fear, and for 
looking at the things which were coming on the earth." 
These tossings of the outward elements were doubtless a 
means whereby many were led to seek an anchorage for 
the soul more sure and steadfast than a dependence on the 
mere forms and ceremonies of the papal system, and the 
number of the spiritual seekers after God, or, as they were 
called, the " Friends of God," was probably thereby greatly 
increased. 

It may be questioned whether Xicolas of Basle, in his 
zealous advocacy of immediate divine revelation, was al- 
ways discriminating in his judgment between the real 
divine communications of the Holy Ghost to the soul, the 
" inspeaking* Word," nigh in the hearts of all men and even 
dwelhng with the faithful, and those emotions which some- 
times assume that appearance in warm temperaments, es- 
pecially in an age much given to legendary fancies. Yet 
it would appear that if he occasionally failed in this re- 
spect, the main bent of his life was a genuine testimony 
to the superiority of inward and immediate teaching by 
the Spirit of Truth, over all that can be learned b}^ the 
mere powers of man's nature, or by outward preaching or 
forms of religion. And under such an experience in his 
own person, he could have well said Avith that spiritual 



56 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

man, King David, " I am wiser than all my teachers." 
He became highly valued among the '' Friends of God" of 
that time, and perhaps by none of them more than by Tanler 
himself, though he continued a layman. Of his extraordi- 
nary influence upon the mind of the latter, we may have to 
speak in relating the life and sentiments of that eminent 
man. In the year 1356, he wrote a pamphlet on the decay 
of vital religion, a copy of which he sent to Tauler ; in 
which, bemoaning the sinfulness which prevailed, he speaks 
of a warning vision which he had had, and foretells the 
approach of fresh calamities on the land. This is consid- 
ered to have been, in part, at least, fulfilled in the almost 
total destruction of the city of Basle by a great earth- 
quake'^ followed by a conflagration lasting eight days, 
which is said to have occurred during that same year. 
This year, also, one of his friends, Berthold von Rohrbach, 
was burned at the stake, at Spire, for preaching that a lay- 
man, enlightened by the Almighty, was as competent to 
teach others as the most learned priest. 

In the little company or brotherhood around Basle, of 
which Nicolas was a sort of centre, both priest and layman 
united in regarding him as their most enlightened member ; 
and all standing equally in a direct and individual relation 
to their Divine Master, they required no priestly media- 
tion as such. Nicolas declared, '' Not counsel from men 
ought we to seek after, but that which proceeds from the 
Holy Spirit ; and so long as we have it from that source, 
it is indifferent whether it flow to us through priest or lay- 
man." And the author of the Life and Times of Tau- 
ler, already quoted, adds that ''they regarded external 
observances as unimportant in themselves, and only ex- 
cellent as a means of improvement, or a sign of obedience. 
Thus, while they admitted ascetic exercises and painful 
penances to be useful in the commencement of a religious 



NICOLAS OF BASLE. 57 

life, in order to mortify the sensual inclinations, they de- 
clared them to be afterward a matter of indifference, nay, 
sometimes positively contrar}^ to the Divine Will." How- 
opposite were these vievv's to the superstitious reliance of 
the Romish church on such austerities ! Nicolas said, 
that to the advanced disciple such things might be self- 
sought penalties, and an evidence that God was not al- 
lowed to work in that soul himself alone ; and he consid- 
ered that it was their duty to endeavor to maintain the 
health and strength of the body, though in subjection to 
the spirit, that they might be adequate to the labors and 
fatigues which in the ordering of the Lord they might be 
called upon to undertake. Nevertheless, it is true that 
they often practised some of these austerities, as we have 
seen an instance of in the case cited of Nicolas himself 

For several years he did not, for some reason, allow the 
particular place of his abode to be generally known, — prob- 
ably a measure of personal precaution in those disturbed 
and persecuting times, — yet he kept up a frequent corre- 
spondence from his seclusion, through the means of those 
few who had access to him, with brethren of the same faith 
on the Rhine, in Italy, Lorraine, and Hungary, and like- 
wise with such as in their perplexities applied to him for 
spiritual consolation. In 1367 he and four chosen friends 
left Basle, and, in accordance with a dream, went into closer 
seclusion for a time in a place high up on a mountain in the 
dominions of the Duke of Austria, and far away from any 
human habitation. Here they remained some years. From 
this retreat, w^hen he w^as above seventy years of age, 
Nicolas felt himself called upon to make a visit to Pope 
Gregory XI., who had recently gone to Rome from Avig- 
non. He was under an impression that still heavier judg- 
ments were impending over sinful and distracted Christen- 
dom. 



58 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

Accompanied by one of bis intimate friends, and with 
tbe sanction of tbe community of his fellow-believers, Nic- 
olas set out for Rome in the spring of 13T7. The "Brief- 
buch" of Rulman Merswin, w^ith whom he corresponded 
respecting his journey, gives the following particulars. 
When they came to Rome, the Layman (as Nicolas was 
always called except when styled "the dear Friend of God 
in the Oberland") inquired for a former acquaintance, now 
an inhabitant of that city; who received him and his com- 
panion with great hospitality, and insisted on entertaining 
them, with their servants and horses, during their stay in 
the cit}^ Finding from Nicolas that they were very desir- 
ous of an opportunity of speaking to the pope, this man 
procured for them a private interview on the third day after 
their arrival. Coming into the presence of the pontiff, "the 
Jurist," as his companion was styled from, having formerly 
been in the profession of the law, addressed him in Latin ; 
but Nicolas, not being able to speak in that language, spoke 
to him in Italian ; and among other things, to the following 
effect: "Holy father (following the common mode of ad- 
dressing the pope), there are many grievous and heinous 
crimes wrought throughout Christendom by all degrees of 
men, whereby God's anger is greatly provoked. Thou 
oughtest to consider how to put an end to these evils." 
The pope answered, "I have no power to amend matters." 
They ihen told him of his own secret faults, which had 
been revealed to them of God by certain evident tokens ; 
and added, "Holy father, know of a truth, that if you 
do not put away your evil doings, and utterly amend 
your ways, you will die within a year." The pope was 
greatly enraged at the boldness of these poor men in thus 
rebuking him ; but they mildly assured him of their willing- 
ness to be imprisoned, or even put to death, if what they 
alleged were not found to be true. The mind of the pontiff 



NICOLAS OF BASLE. 59 

« 

seems to have been struck with conviction ; for, rising from 
his throne, he embraced the two men and kissed them, re- 
questing further conversation with Nicolas ; and told them 
that they might do a great service to religion if they would 
deliver the same message to the Emperor of Germany. 
But this was not a part of their mission. Aftervrard the 
pope invited them to remain with him in Rome, offering to 
provide for their necessities, and to follow their counsel. 
But this they declined, wishing to return to their mountain 
home, and endeavor to obtain means for building a more 
commodious habitation. They informed the pope "that 
they sought no earthly gain, nor came thither for the sake 
of any such thing ; but sought the glory of Gfod and the 
w^elfare of Christendom above all perishable gifts of this 
present time." He then offered them a bishopric, and 
sundry revenues and grants ; but they declined to receive 
them. He, however, wrote letters in their favor to the 
bishop and priests of their diocese. The simple and some- 
w^hat quaint account of their visit given in the " Brief- 
buch," thus winds up the story: "Now when these two 
dear Friends of God had settled their affair with the pope, 
and desired to depart from Rome, their host would not suffer 
them to pay for anything they had had in his house ; and, 
moreover, gave the Layman a good ambling horse, instead 
of the heavy carriage in which he had come ; saying that 
a soft-paced horse would be much easier for him to ride 
over the high mountains than the carriage, seeing that he 
was old and weakly. Now afterward the pope was un- 
mindful of Grod's message, and obeyed it not, and died that 
same year, as they had prophesied." It is probable that 
the expression, "that same year," should be "within a 
year," in accordance with Nicolas's words; for the account 
adds that the pope died "about the fourth week in Lent, 
13Y8." 



60 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

After their arrival at home, through the kindness of the 
bishop and magistrates, and the liberality of "three foreign 
brethren," who had for some time wished to be received 
into their society, and now made over to them their prop- 
erty for the purpose of aiding the building, they were en- 
abled to finish their house, and also a house for divine 
worship. How long the}^ were permitted to rest in peace 
in their new habitation, does not clearly appear. Fresh 
troubles threatened that part of Europe, and Nicolas soon 
foresaw that events might come to pass which would com- 
pel the " Friends of God" to scatter themselves over the 
world. Meantime he advised that their part was to re- 
main in privacy "until God shall do something, we know 
not what as yet." He entreated the prayers of his friends, 
in great trouble, and not knowing what might be the re- 
sult. "It is evident," says S. Winkworth, "from such 
dark hints as these, that Nicolas and his friends now began 
to comtemplate the possibility of their duty calling them 
to use more public means of influence than the private, 
though by no means inactive or inefficient, line of conduct 
hitherto pursued. They must have foreseen the painful 
collision impending between their deep rev^erence for the 
outward authority of the church, and the inward authority 
of the indwelling light. Neither can they have been with- 
out forebodings of the martyr's doom, which actually befell 
all those of whose fate any traces are left." 

The dissensions in the Romish church were now greatly 
increased by the election of two rival popes, producing a 
schism which lasted about forty years; and the "Friends 
of God" were greatly perplexed. Nicolas advised quiet- 
ness and reliance on the Almighty, waiting His direction. 
The mysterious accounts of several meetings held by Nic- 
olas and his associates in the mountains, with a few chosen 
friends from other parts, in which they sought for instruc- 



NICOLAS OF BASLE. 61 

tion in this time of deep trial to their faith, are so mixed 
up with what appears fanciful or s^^iiborical, that we may- 
pass them by. It is probable that too much scope was 
given to the imagination in their deep distress. *'It is 
difficult," says the author already quoted, "to know in 
what light to regard the marvellous accounts that meet us 
in -the writings of ilulman and Nicolas. Some of them 
seem to be simply symbolical ; for it is clear that the}^ were 
in the habit of presenting their views of human affairs 
under the form of an allegory, supposed to be seen in a 
vision or dream, as Buny^an does in his Pilgrim's Pro- 
gress." "Whatever interpretation, however, we may be 
inclined to put upon the marvellous circumstances attend- 
ing, it seems tolerably clear that the seclusion of the 
'Friends of God' was regarded by them as a time of 
preparation for their public work, when they should be 
'scattered abroad over Christendom;' and that by their 
retirement they were breaking the ties that had bound 
them to those who had hitherto depended on them for 
guidance, and accustoming them to act for themselves 
against a time when they should no longer have their 
wonted counsellors at hand." 

No clear accounts have come down to us respecting the 
dispersion of this little band, which, it is supposed, took 
place in the year 1383. "Most hkely," says the author of 
the Life and Times of Tauler, "they went forth as preach- 
ers of repentance ; for there occur in the letters of Nicolas 
frequent comparisons of the present state of the world to 
that of Nineveh, and hints that they may have to act the 
part of Jonah. But where, and how long they did so, is 
wrapt in utter darkness." "All we actually know respect- 
ing their subsequent history is, that in 1393 a certain Mar- 
tin von Mayence, a Benedictine monk of Reichenau, in the 
diocese of Constance, who is called in the accounts of his 

4 



62 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

trial a disciple of Nicolas of Basle and a ' Friend of God,' 
was burned at Cologne, after the same fate had befallen 
some other Friends of God a short time before at Heidel- 
berg. Active researches were made after Nicolas, but as 
he had concealed himself from his friends, for a long time 
he was able to elude the efforts of his persecutors. At 
length, on a journey into France, in order to diffuse his 
doctrines, accompanied by two of his disciples, he fell into 
the hands of the inquisitors at Yienne. He was brought 
to trial, and persisted firmly and publicly" in his religious 
views, the most " audacious" of which seems to have been 
that he affirmed "that he knew that he was in Christ, and 
Christ in him" [in accordance with the apostle's testi- 
mony, 2 Cor. xiii. 5; Col. i. 27, etc.]. ''He was therefore 
delivered over to the secular power, and perished in the 
flames, together with his two disciples, who refused to be 
parted from him." It is supposed that this venerable man 
was about ninety years old when he thus suffered martyr- 
dom. 



CHAPTER Y. 

JOHN TAULER. 

John Tauler, or Thauler, was born in the year 1290, 
most probably at Strasburg on the Rhine, though, according 
to some authors, at the city of Cologne. Being of a serious 
disposition, he determined in early life, in accordance with 
the practice of those times, to assume the clerical profes- 
sion, and accordingly took up his abode in a monastery of 
the Dominican order in his native city. This is supposed 
to have been about the eighteenth year of his age ; soon 



JOHN TAULER. 63 

after which he went to Paris in order to study theology — 
a name given at that time to a laborious mixture of scho- 
lastic disquisitions with metaphysical speculations, almost 
to the exclusion of a true knowledge of God and of the na- 
ture of sin and redemption. 

It does not appear what effect was produced on his mind 
by iiis studies and associations in the city of Paris. In 
its university might then be found almost every variety of 
speculation and belief. On his return to Strasburg h6 was 
probably thrown in contact with men more or less attached 
to mystical principles, including the famous Eckart, Nicolas 
of Strasburg, and others who were about that time there. 

For several years after his return, his native city shared 
largel}^ with others in the troubles consequent upon a long 
dispute between the pope and the emperor, during which 
the former had placed under interdict all w^ho persisted in 
obedience to the latter. The ecclesiastics were thereby in- 
timidated, and generally discouraged from pursuing their 
wonted functions, so that but a few remained in Strasburg, 
either to preach or to perform any of the usual services in 
their mode of worship. " The hireling fleeth because he is 
an hireling, and careth not for the sheep ;" and thus these 
mercenaries left their flocks, mindful only of their own 
safety. This -was in the year 1338. But John Tauler, 
when most of his fellow-priests had deserted their flocks, 
and left the city for two years to take care of itself, con- 
tinued to preach as usual, and even with more diligence, 
not only there, but in several other places, ranging from 
Cologne to Basle. It was probably during his visits to the 
latter city about this time, that iS'icolas of Basle first met 
with him, and was struck with the earnestness of his 
preaching. Here also he met with his old acquaintance, 
Henry of Norcllingen, a priest of Constance, who was then 
wandering about in great distress, in consequence of the 



G4 REPORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

pope's proliibition. He is described as a man of gentle 
pious spirit, "more fitted for a quiet contemplative life than 
for the energetic activity required bj the troublous times 
in which his lot was cast. He, like Tauler, was filled with 
anguish at the sight of the distress of those around him ; 
but while Tauler's grief stirred him up to vigorous efforts 
in their behalf, and his courage and energy rose with the 
emergency, the timid and hesitating Henry was unable to 
surmount the difficulties in which he found himself in- 
volved; and the greater the pressure of the times, the 
greater was his perplexity and longing for peace." Tauler 
endeavored to encourage him, and did actually prevail upon 
him at different times to venture to preach, notwithstand- 
ing the papal interdict ; yet afterward he again gave way 
to his fears, and to the clamors raised against him among 
the priests. But Tauler was still undaunted and diligent, 
considering it to be his duty to preach without waiting for 
papal permission. He was evidently greatly esteemed as 
a fervent preacher, and was probably faithful to the best 
of his knowledge at that time; but he soon came to see, 
through the instrumentality of his friend, "the Ijayman," 
Nicolas of Basle, the "dear friend of God in the Oberland," 
that what he had hitherto attained to in conformity with 
the scholastic views of his education, was but as the outer 
shell of religious experience, and that, like Apollos of old, 
he needed to know for himself "the way of God more per- 
fectly." 

The following incident is said to have occurred to him 
during the time that he was earnestly concerned to find for 
himself a sure foundation for his faith and hope. He re- 
ceived an inward intimation that by going to a certain 
place of worship, he would find in the porch a man who 
would instruct him "in the spiritual life." On arriving at 
the place, he found a poor beggar, very meanly clad. He* 



JOHN TAULER. 65 

saluted'him thus : " God give you a good day, my friend." 
The poor man replied : " Sir, I do not remember that I 
ever had an evil day." Tauler said to him : " God give 
you a good and happy life :" to which the beggar rejoined : 
" Why say you that ? I never was unhappy." " Pray tell 
me what you mean," asked Tauler. The poor man re- 
plied : " That I shall willingly do. I told you first I never 
had an evil day ; for when I have hunger, I praise God. 
If it rain, hail, snow, or freeze, be it fair or foul, or if I 
am despised or ill used, I return God thanks ; so I never 
had an evil day. Nor have I ever been unhappy, since I 
have learned always to resign myself to His will ; being 
very certain of this, that all His works are perfectly good ; 
and therefore I never desire anything else but the good 
pleasure of God." Then said Tauler : "But what if the 
good pleasure of God should be to cast you hence into 
hell?" The poor man replied: "If he would do so, I 
have two arms to embrace him with : the one whereof 
is profound humility, b}^ which I am united to his holy 
humanity ; the other is love or charity, which joins me to 
his divinity. Embraced with these two arms, he would 
descend with me thither, if thither he ordered me ; and 
there I had infinitely rather be, with him, than in paradise, 
without him." This was a deep lesson to Tauler, of the 
necessity of true resignation and humility, in order to at- 
tain to the love of God and acceptance with him. After 
this, he asked the poor man whence he came. He replied, 
that God had sent him. Tauler inquired of him, where he 
found the Almighty. He replied: "I found him when I 
had renounced all the creatures." "And where did you 
leave him?" asked Taaler. The beggar answered : "With 
the poor in spirit, the pure in heart, and men of charity." 
" But who are you ?" again asked Tauler. " I am a king," 
said the beggar. " Where is your kingdom ?" asked Tau- 



66 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

ler. "In my soul," replied he; "for I have learned to 
bring into subjection and govern my senses, as well out- 
ward as inward, with my affections and passions ; which 
kingdom is undoubtedly superior to all the kingdoms of 
this world." Tauler then asked him by what means he 
had arrived at such an attainment ; to which he replied, 
that it was " by silence, vigilance, meditation, and prayer, 
and the union I had with God. I could find no sure re- 
pose or comfort in any creature of the world ; by which 
means I found out my God, who will comfort me world 
without end." 

It was in the year 1340 that Nicolas of Basle believed 
himself warned of the Lord three times in his sleep to go 
to find out Tauler at Strasburg, more than ninety miles 
from his own residence. Accordingly he concluded to go, 
"and wait to see what God is purposed to do or to bring 
to pass there." The account given of his tarriance there, 
which was for several months, is somewhat prolix and 
quaint, after the manner of the times ; but a brief abstract 
will not be without interest and instruction. It appears 
to have been chiefly drawn up by Tauler himself, and to 
have been given by him into the hands of Nicolas, about 
twenty years after the events, with the strict injunction 
that neither of their names should appear in it, and that it 
should not be printed during Tauler's lifetime. ' Accord- 
ingly, he is uniforml}'- spoken of in the narrative as " the 
Master," — a designation then given to priests — and Nic- 
olas as " the Layman," or " the man." Neither of them ap- 
pears to have been sufficiently enlightened to see through 
the popish superstitions of confession and the mass, though 
it is reasonable to believe that their esteem for these rites 
w^as at that time a subdued one, and their practice of them 
chiefly by way of obedience, or of acquiesce uce in the sys- 
tem of their education, at that period rarely questioned. 



JOHN TAULER. 67 

Nicolas, after hearing Tauler preach five times, became 
convinced that although he vi^as of a ver}^ loving gentle spirit 
by nature, and had a good understanding of Holy Scrip- 
ture, yet that he was " dark as to the light of grace;" and 
his heart so yearned over him, that after twelve weeks he 
ventured to go to him, with a request that he would preach 
a sermon, " showing how a man may attain to the highest 
point that is given to us to reach in this present time." He 
urged this request against Tauler's objections, and would 
not cease his entreaties till '' the Master" promised him to 
do as he desired. His sermon, which " the Layman" took 
down in writing, was a remarkable one for those days of 
darkness; the following being the qualiJicaHons hvoiight 
forward by Tauler as belonging to such an attainment, "so 
far as he could find from Scripture." 

" The first is given us by our Lord Jesus Christ, when 
he says, 'Hereby [ye] shall know that ye are my dis- 
ciples, if ye have love one to another,' — 'even as I have 
loved you;' as much as to say, 'though ye should possess 
arts and wisdom, and high understanding, it is all in vain 
if ye have not withal fidelity and love.' We believe that 
Balaam was so replete with understanding that he per- 
ceived what things God purposed to do or reveal hundreds 
of years after his day; but it availed him nothing, foras- 
much as he did not cleave with love and loyalty to the 
things which he understood. 

" The second mark appertaining to a truly reasonable, 
enlightened man, is that he must become empty of self; 
and this must not make him proud, but he shall consider 
how he may ever more attain to this freedom, and sit loose 
by all creatures. 

"Third, he shall resign himself utterly to God, that God 
may work His own works in him ; and he shall not glory 
in the Avorks as being his own, but always think himself 
too mean to have done them. 



68 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

"He shall go out from himself in all the things in which 
he is wont to seek and find himself, whether belonjyinff to 
time or to eternity, and by so doing he shall win a true 
increase. 

'' He shall not seek his own ends in any creature, whether 
temporal or eternal, and hereby he shall attain to perfect 
satisfaction and content. 

"He shall always wait on that which God will have him 
to do, and shall try, with the help of God, to fulfil that to 
the uttermost, and shall take no glory to himself therefor. 

''He shall daily, without ceasing, give up his will to the 
will of God, and endeavor to will nothing but what God 
willeth. 

"He shall bend all his powers into submission to God, 
and exercise them so constantly and so strenuously in God, 
and with such power and love, that God may work nothing 
in him without his active concurrence, and he may do no- 
thing without God. 

"He shall have the sense of the presence of God in all 
his works, at all times, and in all places, whatever it 
please God to appoint, whether it be sweet or bitter. 

"All his pleasure and pain he shall receive, not as from 
the creature, but from God ; howbeit God ofttimes works 
through the creature, yet he shall receive all things as from 
God alone. 

"He shall not be led captive by any lusting or desire 
after the creatures without due necessity. 

" No contradiction or mishap shall have power to move 
or constrain him so that it separate him from the truth ; 
therefore hold fast always and entirely by the same. 

" He shall not be deceis^ed by the glory of the creature, 
nor yet by any false light, but in a spirit of kindness and 
love he shall confess all things to be what they are, and 
from all things draw out what is best, and use it to his 



JOHN TAULER. • 0^ 

own improvement, and in no wise to his own detriment ; 
for such a course is a certain sign of the presence of the 
Holy Spirit. 

" He shall at all times be equipped and armed with all 
virtue, and ready to fight against all vice and sin ; and with 
his good weapons he shall obtain the victory and the prize 
in all conflicts. 

"He shall confess the truth in simplicity, and he shall 
mark what it is in itself, what God requireth of us, and 
what is possible to man, and then order his life accord- 
ingly, and act up to what he confesses. 

'' He shall be a man of few words, and much inward life. 

" He shall be blameless and righteous, but in no wise 
be puffed up by reason of the same. 

*' His conversation shall be in all uprightness and sin- 
cerity ; thus shall he let his light shine before men, and he 
shall preach more with his life than with his lips. 

"He shall seek the glory of God before all things, and 
have no other aim in view. 

"He shall be willing to take reproof; and when he striv- 
eth with any, he shall give way if the matter concern him- 
self alone, and not God. 

"He shall not desire or seek his own advantage, but 
think himself unworthy of the least thing that falls to his lot. 

" He shall look upon himself as the least wise and worthy 
man upon earth, yet find in himself great faith ; and above 
all, he shall take no account of his own wisdom and the 
works of his own reason, but humble himself beneath all 
men. For the Author of all truth will not work a super- 
natural work in the soul, unless he find a thorough humility 
in a man, and go before his doings with his perfect grace, 
as he did with St. Paul. But I fear, alas ! that little heed 
is taken to this in these our days. 

"He shall set the life and precepts of our Lord Jesus 
4* 



10 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

Christ before him for a pattern to his life, words, and works, 
and without ceasing look at himself therein as in a mirror ; 
that, in so far as he is able, he may put off everything un- 
becoming the honored image of our Lord. 

" He shall comport himself as a man of small account — 
as nothing more than a beginner in a good life ; and though 
he should therefore be despised by many, it shall be more 
welcome to him than all the favor of the world. 

''Now these are the signs that the ground of a man's 
soul is truly reasonable [according to right reason], so that 
the image of ail truth shineth and teacheth therein ; and he 
who does not bear in hinaself these signs, may not and 
must not set any store by his own reason, either in his own 
eyes or those of others. That we all may become such a 
true image, in thorough sincerity and perfect humility, may 
He help us who is the Eternal Truth, the Father, Son, and 
Holy Ghost." 

This discourse, on which many professing to be Chris- 
tians nowadays might ponder with deep instruction, was 
heard with gratification by "the Layman," who took it 
down in writing, after he arrived at his lodgings, so accu- 
rately that on afterward reading it over to the preacher, the 
latter was struck with astonishment, and acknowledged that 
it seemed to be wonderfully word for word as he had spoken 
it. Still "the man" was impressed with a belief that "the 
Master" was trusting too much to his letter-learning, and 
needed more refinement of spirit under the immediate oper- 
ations of the Holy Ghost, to fit and qualify him for so great 
a work. At length, after much hesitation, he ventured to 
inform Tauler of his uneasiness of mind in respect to him, 
and to open to him a little of his own experience. Among 
other things, he told him that neither his sermons, nor any 
outward words that man could speak, had power to work 
any good in him ; for men's words had in many ways bin- 



JOHN TAULER. tl 

dered him much more than they had helped hhn. "And 
this is the reason," said he : "it often happened that when 
I came away from the sermon I brought certain false no- 
tions away with me, which I hardly got rid of in a long 
while with great toil; but if the highest Teacher of all 
truth shall come to a man, he must be empty and quit of 
all tTie things of time. Know, that when this same Master 
Cometh to me, He teaches me more in an hour than you or 
all the doctors from Adam to the judgment day will ever 
do." He afterward added: "Though you have taught us 
many good things in this sermon, the image came into my 
mind white you were preaching, that it was as if one should 
take good wine and mix it with lees, so that it should be- 
come muddy. I mean that your vessel is unclean, and 
much lees are cleaving to it ; and the cause is, that you have 
suffered yourself to be killed by the letter, and are killing 
yourself still every day and hour, albeit you know full well 
that the Scripture saith, ' The letter killeth, but the Spirit 
giveth life.' — In the life you are now living, you have no 
light, but are in the night; in which you are indeed able to 
understand the letter, but have not yet tasted the sweet- 
ness of the Holy Ghost. And withal, you are yet a phari- 
see." 

Tauler felt ready to recoil at being so closely pressed ; 
but the layman re-afiirmed the truth of what he had said, 
explaining to him that he was trusting too much to his 
"learning and parts," and did not purely seek the glory of 
God alone ; but had an eye to self and a leaning to the crea- 
tures, and, therefore, not having a " single eye to God," his 
vessel was still unclean, and consequently his teaching was 
defective, "not bringing grace to pure loving hearts ;" and 
thus it might be seen how it was that " so few received 
from his teaching the grace of the Holy Spirit." 

As he spoke these words, Tauler fell on his neck and 



72 REFORxMERS AND MARTYRS. 

kissed him, and compared himself with the woman at Ja- 
cob's well ; "for he had had all his faults laid bare before 
his e3"es," some of which he believed "no human being in 
the world knew of ;" and he greatly marvelled, and doubted 
not that his friend had it indeed from God. He was greatly 
humbled, and made resolutions of beginning a better course, 
with the help of the Lord ; and they had much sweet dis- 
course to his edification. The layman told him of his own 
experience, according to what we have seen in the life of 
Nicolas; and in the course of the conversation related how 
he had, as he believed, been enabled by the Holy Spirit to 
write a letter "to a heathen far away in a heathen land," 
in such a manner as to answer the poor man's longings 
and prayer to be led to the knowledge of a " better faith 
than that in which he had been born ;" and how this hea- 
then had, through this instrumentality, been brought to the 
Christian faith. "Albeit I am unworthy of it," said he, 
"yet did the Holy Spirit work through me, a poor sinner." 

Tauler expressing his astonishment at receiving so much 
instruction from so simple a man, the laj^man said to him : 
" Now tell me, dear master, how it was, or whose work it 
was, that the blessed Saint Katharine, who was but a 
young maid barely fourteen years old, overcame some fifty 
of the great masters, and, moreover, so prevailed over them 
that they willingly went to martyrdom ?" The " master" 
replied, "The Holy Ghost did this." Then said "the 
man," " Do you not believe that the Holy Ghost has still 
the same power ?" — which Tauler could not but acknowl- 
edge. 

After much conversation, probably at various interviews, 
Tauler found himself so brought down from his former 
lofty position as to give himself up to the new life which 
he saw was required of him, and to resolve that, let the 
consequences be what they might to himself, he would, 



JOHN TAULER. 73 

with the Lord's help, endeavor to cease from his earthly- 
reasonings and course, and follow the counsels thus faith- 
fully given him. His friend, at Tauler's request, consented 
to remain for some weeks longer with him, endeavoring to 
impart such counsel as should tend to his establishment in 
the spiritual pathway ; and among other things, requested 
him to cease from both study and preaching for a time. 
" For know," said he, " that you must needs walk in that 
same path of which our Lord spoke to that young man ; 
you must take up the cross, and follow our Lord Jesus 
Christ and his example, in utter sincerity, humility, and 
patience, and must let go all your proud, ingenious reason, 
which you have through your learning in the Scripture." 
"And then, when our Lord sees that the time is come, he 
will make of you a new man, so that you shall be born 
again of God. jS'evertheless, know that before this can 
come to pass, you must sell all that you have, and humbly 
yield it up to God, that you may truly make him your end, 
and give up to him all that you possess in your carnal 
pride, whether through the Scriptures or without, or what- 
ever it be, whereby you might reap honor in this world, 
or in which you may aforetime have taken pleasure or de- 
light — you must let it all go, and with Mary Magdalene fall 
down at Christ's feet, and earnestly strive to enter on a 
new course. And so doing, without doubt, the eternal 
Heavenly Prince will look down on you with the eye of 
his good pleasure, and will not leave his work undone in 
you, but will urge you still further, that you may be tried 
and purified as gold in the fire. And it may even come to 
pass that he shall give you to drink of the bitter cup that 
he gave to his' only begotten Son. For it is my belief that 
one bitter cup which God will pour out for you will be, 
that your good works and all your refraining from evil, 
yea, your whole life, will be despised and turned to naught 



"74 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

in the eyes of the people ; and all your spiritual children 
will forsake you and think you are gone out of your mind ; 
and all your good friends and brothers in the convent will 
be offended at your life, and say that you have taken to 
strange ways. — Now if so be that you are minded to take 
these things in hand, there is nothing better or more pro- 
fitable for you at this present than an entire, hearty, hum- 
ble self-surrender in all things, whether sweet or bitter, 
painful or pleasant ; so that you may be able to say with 
truth, 'Ah, my Lord and my God, if it were thy will that I 
should remain till the day of judgment in this sufi'ering and 
tribulation, yet would I not fall away from thee, but would 
desire ever to be constant in thy service.' I see you are 
thinking in your heart, that I have said very hard things 
to you ; and this is why I begged you beforehand to let 
me go, and told you that if you went back, like that young 
man, I would not have it laid to my charge." Then said 
the master, " Thou sayest truly : I confess it does seem 
to me a hard thing to follow thy counsel." The man an- 
swered, "Yet you begged me to show you the shortest 
way to the highest perfectness. Now I know no surer or 
shorter way than to follow in the footsteps of our Lord 
Jesus Christ." 

Some time after this conversation, Tauler said to the 
man, ''Ah, dear son, what agony and struggle and fighting 
have I not had within me, day and night, before I. was able 
to overcome the devil and my own flesh ! — but I am pur- 
posed to remain steadfast, come weal, come woe." 

The layman soon after this took his leave. But within 
a year afterward, his prediction came to be fulfilled ; for 
the strict spiritual life which Tauler now felt himself called 
upon to lead, in humility and renunciation of self, was so 
strange in the eyes of all his associates, that he came to be 
despised as much as he had before been looked up to. 



JOHN TAULER. 75 

During the distress into which he was hereby introduced, 
w^hich at times seemed too much for him to bear without 
suffering in his bodily health, his friend came again to see 
him, and endeavored to encourage him to give up all to 
his Divine Master, and trust in Him through all. When 
he was about departing homeward, Tauler expressed the 
great loss his absence would be to him. But he referred 
him to the "Better Comforter, that is, the Holy Ghost, 
who," said he, "has called and invited and brought you to 
this point, by means of me, his poor creature ; but it is his 
work which has been wrought in you, and not mine; I 
have been merely his instrument, and served him therein, 
and have done so willingly, for the glory of God and the 
salvation of your soul." Then said Tauler, "may God 
be thine eternal reward !" And he parted from him in 
tears. 

After suffering for two years much humiliation and dis- 
tress, both inward and outward, he again began to preach. 
His friend, the layman, had visited him in his trouble, and 
finding that the good work was going on in his soul, and 
judging therefore that as he had " now received the light 
of the Holy Spirit by the grace of God," his doctrine would 
"new come from the Holy Ghost, which before came from 
the flesh," he had encouraged him to resume his function 
as a preacher, "giving ear to the true Master, and obeying 
His commands." The first time that he tried again to 
speak in the congregation as a preacher, he was powerfully 
arrested in his feelings after he had gone into the pulpit, 
and could only exclaim, holding his hood before his eyes, 
" Oh, merciful eternal God, if it be thy will, give me so to 
speak that it may be to the praise and glory of thy name, 
and to the good of this people!" As he said these words, 
his eyes overflowed with tears, and though the people be- 
came impatient to hear him, he could say no more. He 



T6 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

remained in silent supplication to the Almighty, casting 
himself on His wisdom and mercy, and at length apolo- 
gized to the congregation and let them depart. After this, 
he became, it is said, a public laughing-stock of the town, 
so that they said, " Now we all see that he has become a 
downright fool;" and he was forbidden to attempt to 
preach any more. He was, however, after some time, per- 
mitted again to preach ; and on this occasion many of his 
congregation appear to have been greatly affected by the 
fervency of what he delivered to them. 

After this, continuing faithful according to the measure 
of the light vouchsafed through the clouds of those dark 
ages, he is said to have grown in spiritual understanding 
and in outward usefulness. He determined to preach alto- 
gether in the German tongue instead of the Latin. " In 
simple and earnest language he appealed to the consciences 
of his hearers, and showed them the way of escape from 
the wretchedness of their sinful lives to the peace of 
(rod, which passeth all understanding." It is said that it 
was a particular concern with him to promote a reforma- 
tion in the lives of the ecclesiastics, many of whom were 
living in utter neglect of the duties of their vocation. The 
statutes of a synod called by Bishop Berthold, in 13L35, 
even during the time of the interdict, described in sorrow- 
ful colors their indecorous conduct. It seems that they 
often alienated the church property in order to gratify their 
propensity to pleasure and ostentation. " The younger and 
more wealthy especially distinguished themselves by their 
extreme fondness for display, and the bishop complained, 
that instead of going about clad with due decorum, they 
allowed their hair to grow long in order to conceal the ton- 
sure, wore boots of red, yellow, and green, and adorned 
their coats with gold lace and gay ribbons; that they 
strutted about in the streets equipped with rapiers and 



JOHN TAULER. 77 

swords, attended tournaments, frequented the public tav- 
erns, and were the most jovial of boon companions at the 
drinking-bouts of the laymen. In some of the more wealthy- 
nunneries too, things had come to such a pitch that the 
nuns dressed magnificently, took part in the amusements 
of the tournament, and even danced with laymen in their 
taverns!" 

Tauler was zealous against such disorders, which pro- 
voked for him the hostility of many of the' priests, who 
could not bear to be restricted or so exposed in their irreg- 
ularities. His enemies ridiculed him for ''making so much 
of the inward work," and called him and his friends inno- 
vators, Beghards, and belonging to the new spirits. But 
the magistrates befriended him ; for though his preaching 
was in opposition to the papal interdict, and man}^ of the 
priests in their anger against him forbade him to preach, 
yet he was sustained by the authorities of the city, who 
obliged them to rescind their prohibition. It is related, 
however, that under the influence of his admonitions "many 
of the priests became quite pious," and that by the people 
at large he was revered and greatly beloved, and often 
called upon to act as counsellor among them in weighty 
affairs. The "Friends of God" were closely attached to 
him, and it is believed that that eminent member of their 
community, Kulman Merswin, was convinced of their prin- 
ciples through his instrumentality. 

Nor did he confine his piety to theory alone, but mani- 
fested his faith by his works in deeds of love and kindness 
to his fellow-creatures. In the year 1348 a plague visited 
southern Germany and France, called the Black Death; 
by which it was calculated that two-thirds of the popula- 
tion of southern France perished, and sixteen thousand in 
Strasburg alone. When it visited this his native city, he 
devoted himself to carrying consolation to the sick and dy- 



Y8 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

ing"; an employment rendered much more laborious by the 
fact that the other priests had generally deserted their 
flocks. Tauler and two of his friends, named Ludolph and 
Thomas, issued an address to the clerical body, showing 
them how wrong it was for them to desert the poor people 
under such circumstances of affliction, and declaring that 
" Christ had died for all men, and the pope had no power 
to close heaven against an innocent person who should die 
under the interdict." They afterward issued another ad- 
dress, in which they boldly proclaimed " that he who pro- 
fesses the true articles of the Christian faith, and only sins 
against the power of the pope, is by no means to be ac- 
counted a heretic." 

As was to be supposed, the pope soon heard of such 
doctrine being promulgated, and took great offence at it. 
He commanded the bishop to burn the books of these three 
friends and forbid their perusal. The result was that they 
were expelled from the city which had been the grateful 
recipient of their benevolent exertions to its suffering peo- 
ple. After a while, the Emperor Charles lY. visited Stras- 
burg, and, hearing much respecting Tauler and his two 
friends, sent for them to hear their defence. Tauler firmly 
advocated what he believed to be the truth, and plainly 
told the emperor why they were banished ; and his dis- 
course had so much weight with Charles, that he expressed 
his desire that no further proceedings should be taken 
against them, declaring himself (it is said) even favorable 
to their opinions. The bishops, however, who were present 
continued to condemn their writings, and enjoined upon 
them to recant, and write no more of the like nature on 
pain of excommunication. One writer declares, neverthe- 
less, that they went on and wrote still better than before ; 
but nothing can now be clearly known of this, for very lit- 
tle further has come down to us respecting Tauler until the 



JOHN TAULER. 19 

occnrrence of his last illness and death. It is known, how- 
ever, that he left Strasburg and took up his residence in 
Cologne for a time, and afterward returned to his native 
city, where he died. He was visited with a long and pain- 
ful illness, being confined to his bed for about twenty weeks 
with great suffering. Perceiving that he was about to de- 
part, he sent for his old and valued friend Nicolas of Basle, 
informing him that he did not expect to be much longer in 
this world. On Nicolas coming to him and asking how 
it fared with him, he replied, " I believe that the time is 
very near when God purposes to take me from this world ; 
for which cause, dear son, it is a great consolation to me 
that thou art present at my end. I pray thee, take these 
books, which are lying there. Thou wilt find written therein 
all thy discourse with me aforetime, and also my answers, 
and thou wilt find something concerning my life, and the 
dealings of God with me his poor unworthy servant. Dear 
son, if thou think fit, and if God give thee grace, make a 
little book of it." And when his friend assented, and 
spoke of writing an account of him and adding some of his 
sermons which he had written down, Tauler said to him, 
" Dear son, I lay upon thee my most solemn admonition, that 
thou write nothing about me, and that thou do not men- 
tion my name.; for thou must know that of a truth the life, 
and words, and works, which God has wrought through 
me, a poor, unworthy, sinful man, are not mine, but belong 
to God Almighty, now and for evermore. Therefore, dear 
son, if thou wilt write it down for the profit of our fellow- 
Christians, write it so that neither my name nor thine be 
named, but thou mayest say, the 'master' and 'the man'. 
Moreover, thou shalt not suffer the book to be read or seen 
by any one in this town, lest he should mark that it was 
I ; but take it home with thee to thy own countr}^, and let 
it not come out during my life." 



80 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

In this humble frame of mind he waited his summons 
for eleven days after this conversation, and died about the 
seventy-first year of his age, in the year of our Lord 18G1. 



CHAPTER YJ. 

JOHN WYCLIPFE. 

John de Wycliffe, or Wickliffe, whose name has been 
spelled in nearly twenty different ways, is supposed to have 
been born about the year 1324, at or near Wychffe, a vil- 
lage on the banks of the Tees, near Rokeby, and about 
eight miles from Richmond in Yorkshire, England; and to 
have derived his surname from the name of his birth-place. 
His parents are unknown to history, but are conjectured 
to have been the owners of the manor of Wycliffe.* 

When about sixteen years of age, after obtaining the 
elements of learning nearer home, he went to the Univer- 
sity of Oxford ; at first entering Queen's College, but after- 
ward removing to Merton College, which was of a more 
mature standing and offered greater advantages. It has 
been said, but on what authority we know not, that at that 
time this celebrated university contained the astonishing 
number of 30,000 students. Here he remained many years, 
and became a proficient in the literature and science taught 
at that day, and familiar with the intricate nonsense of 
scholastic philosophy which then occupied the disputations 
of the most polished minds of Europe. 

In the year 1356, when about the thirty-second year of 

* See Vaughan's Life and Opinions of Wycliflfe, vol. i. p. 219. 



JOHN WYCLIFFE. 81 

his age, he wrote a small work entitled " The Last Age of 
the Church," in which he displays various speculative 
opinions of future events, but clearly manifests also the 
commencement of those sentiments which afterward dis- 
tinguished him, of dissatisfaction with the corrupt condi- 
tion of the church. Indeed, one author says that "even at 
this period of his history, the nefarious practices connected 
with the appointment of the clergy to the sphere of their 
duties had so far shocked his piety, as to dispose him to 
expect a speedy and signal manifestation of the displeasure 
of Heaven." Four years afterward, the mendicant monks 
took especial umbrage at his exposure of their many erro- 
neous practices, and set on foot a controversy and opposi- 
tion which continued to beset him during the rest of his life. 
These mendicants had originally appeared with the pro- 
fession of correcting the abuses and vices attendant on the 
luxury and wealth to which the convents hg-d attained, and 
which were the crying scandal of Christendom. But they 
soon showed themselves as disorderly as their predecessors, 
and indeed eventuall}' became a public nuisance. About the 
year 1360, Wycliffe came forth with an exposure of their 
false pretensions, denouncing,,, as he did also some years 
afterward in a special treatise, their defective morals, their 
false claim to a monopoly of Ithe privilege to preach the 
gospel, their wiles employed to seduce young children into 
their order, their hypocrisy in pretending to be poor while 
they were enjoying the luxuries accumulated by incessant 
itinerant begging, their encouragement of simony, their 
contempt of the civil authority, and their preference of the 
papal decrees to the obvious commands of Christ. From 
all these, he constantly charged them with being opponents 
of the gospel, and urged that nothing short of a removal of 
these intruders could restore the church to its long-lost 
order and prosperity. Of course such an attack upon these 



82 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

idle and privileged persons provoked them to great rage 
against its author. 

In 1365, he was appointed warden of Canterbury Hall, 
a college recently founded by Islep, Archbishop of Canter- 
bury. The next year, King Edward III. being required 
by Pope Urban Y. to pay the annual claim of the papacy 
on the crown of England, which had not been paid now for 
thirty-three years, and which Edward considered an unjust 
and degrading acknowledgment of the tenure of the crown 
from the papal see, the question was, on the pope's urg- 
ently demanding the money, submitted by the king to his 
parliament. By this body the demand was indignantly re- 
fused, and plain intimations were given to the pontiff that 
the enforcement of such an insulting demand on England 
should be met by the strength of the nation. Soon after 
this decision, an anonymous writer appeared from among 
the monastic orders, supporting the claim of the pope, and 
calling upon John Wycliffe by name to prove the fallacy 
of his reasoning. Wycliffe was not backward to reply, 
though he knew he was entering on a dangerous theme; 
and knowing this, he was cautious in his own arguments, 
sheltering himself under the cover of the speeches which 
had been delivered in parliament; six or seven of which he 
quoted, showing great boldness, for that age, in resisting 
the claims of the papacy. One of the speakers went so far 
as to say, that "Christ is the supreme Lord, while the 
pope is a man, and liable to sin, and who, while in mortal 
sin, according to divines, is unfitted for dominion." Ed- 
ward refused this badge of feudal homage demanded by the 
pope, and likewise the ancient tribute of " Peter's pence ;" 
and appointed John Wycliffe to the office of royal chap- 
lain. 

In the parliament of 1311, an attempt was made to 
check the secular power of the ecclesiastics, by excluding 



JOHN WYCLIPPE. . 83 

them from various offices of state ; a very large proportion 
of which they had for many years managed to obtain. 
Wycliffe came forth zealously against this practice, often 
using the words of the Apostle Paul, "He that warreth, 
entangleth not himself with the affairs of this life ;" and as 
a consequence, he incurred the serious displeasure of the 
prelates and of the papal court ; especially as the attempt 
of the parliament was partially successful, resulting at least 
in the resignation of the office of chancellor held by the 
Bishop of Winchester, and the removal of the Bishop of 
Exeter as treasurer of the realm. One of the first results 
of the papal displeasure was the loss by Wycliffe of his 
office of warden of Canterbury Hall; but receiving near 
the same time the chair of theology in the university, and 
the rectorship of Lutterworth, his efforts and opportunities 
for the spread of reforming sentiments were by no means 
diminished. He now published, among other small treat- 
ises, a Comment on the Ten Commandments, which con- 
tains some very remarkable sentiments in advance of the 
times, and the following expressions near the close: 
"Many think, if they give a penny to a pardoner, they 
shall be forgiven the breaking of all the commandments of 
God, and therefore they take no heed how they keep them. 
But I say thee for certain, though-thou have priests and 
friars to sing' for thee, and though thou each day hear 
many masses, and found chauntries and colleges, and go 
on pilgrimages all thy life, and give all thy goods to par- 
doners ; all this shall not bring thy soul to heaven. While, 
if the commandments of God are revered to the end, 
though neither penny nor half-penny be possessed, there 
shall be everlasting pardon, and the bliss of heaven!'^ 
Such sentiments must have greatly tended to weaken the 
hold of the confessional on the minds of the thinking por- 
tion of the people. 



84 , REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

During 13t5, and six months of the next year, he was 
companion to Edward's second son, John of Gaunt, Duke 
of Lancaster, along with some prelates, in a mission to 
the city of Bruges, for the obtaining of certain concessions 
from the pope ; and during these negotiations, although 
the pontiff did not personally appear, yet Wycliffe saw 
enough of the intriguing policy of the papal court, to re- 
turn home with still clearer views of the corruptions which 
had overrun the church from the head of the hierarchy 
downward. 

The parliament in 1376 issued an earnest remonstrance 
against the enormous extortions of the Romish See, and 
required that in future no papal collector or proctor 
"should remain in England, on pain of life and limb, and 
that no Englishman, on the like pain, should become such 
collector or proctor, or remain at the court of Rome." To 
read some of the parliamentary documents of this time, it 
would almost appear that but few additional steps were 
then needed to separate England from its allegiance to 
Rome altogether. The Duke of Lancaster, who was Wy- 
cliffe's avowed friend, now, in consequence of the death 
of his elder brother, "the Black Prince," presided in the 
councils of his aged and infirm parent. But at length 
Wycliffe's enemies broke ground, and prepared for open 
hostilities against him and the progress of reform. By the 
influence of Courtney, Bishop of London, he was cited to 
appear before his ecclesiastical superiors, "to answer on 
certain charges of holding and publishing many erroneous 
and heretical doctrines." The crowd in the cathedral was 
immense, attracted by anxiety or S3^mpathy; so that, we 
are told, "the authority of Lord Percy, earl-marshal of the 
realm, and that of the Duke of Lancaster himself, were 
scarcety sufficient to procure for the accused an avenue of 
approach to the place of his judges. Some disturbance, 



JOHN WYCLIFEE. 85 

arising' from this clifFiculty, attracted the notice of Courtney, 
who was about to conclact the prosecution ; and we may 
presume that his displeasure was not at all diminished, on 
perceiving the two most powerful subjects of the crown 
prepared to shield the Rector of Lutterworth (Wycliffe) 
from the meditated vengeance of his enemies. The pre- 
late hastil}^ accosted these noblemen with the language of 
reproof, proceeding so far as to express his regret that he 
had not adopted measures to prevent their admission to 
the court. The duke regarded this haughty intimation as 
an insult, and warmly replied, that in such matters the 
authority of the Bishop of London would be insufijcient to 
regulate his conduct. Lord Percy felt with his distinguished 
colleague under this attack, and resented it so far, as to 
call upon W3^cliffe to be seated ; observing, that such an 
indulgence might be necessary, as he would have much to 
answer. Courtney loudly opposed the advice of the earl- 
marshal, adding that such conduct in the person accused 
must be interpreted as a contempt of the court. The duke, 
however, applauded the suggestion of his friend. Some 
angry discussion arose, which becoming connected with 
the already excited feeling of the multitude, a tumult en- 
sued, and the parties being compelled to separate in dis- 
order, the prosecution was for the present suspended."* 

This was early in the year IStT ; and toward midsum- 
mer of that year Edward III. died, and was succeeded by 
Richard, son of the Black Prince, then in the twelfth year 
of his age. The parliament convened under his authority, 
however, pursued the same course as the previous ones, in 
declaiming against the arrogant pretensions and exactions 
of Rome; and, at the request ostensibly of the young 
king, Wycliffe again employed his pen in the cause. From 
various Scripture testimonies, and from the words of Ber- 

* Vaughan's Wycliffe, vol. i. p. '6'6S. 

5 



86 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

Hard of Clairvaux, he undertook to prove "that the pope 
has no right to possess himself of the goods of the church, 
as though he were lord of them ; but that he is to be, with 
respect to them, as a minister or servant, and a proctor for 
the poor." He concluded his treatise with the expression 
of an earnest desire, ''that the same proud and eager de- 
sire of authority and lordship, which is now discovered 'by 
this seat of power, were aught else than a delusion, pre- 
paring the pathway of antichrist;" for the children of 
Christ's Kingdom are not produced by such means, and 
the same Bernard had said to Pope Eugenius, " I fear 
not any greater (evil) befalling thee, than this eager thirst- 
ing after dominion." 

The pope was well informed of the state of things in 
England. Seventeen years had elapsed since Wycliffe first 
came out against the mendicant monks, and he had, since 
that time, repeatedly come forth with his pen in a manner 
calculated to excite the anger not only of the monastic 
orders, but of the papal chair. Letters were sent before 
long from the pontiff to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the 
Bishop of London, the King, and the University of Ox- 
ford, accusing Wychffe of having " with a fearlessness, the 
offspring of a detestable insanity, ventured to dogmatize 
and preach in favor of opinions wholly subversive of the 
church;" and demanding that his person should be seized 
and committed to prison, that his tenets should be strictly 
inquired into, and that he should be retained in custody 
until further orders from Rome. 

The result was, that Wycliffe, early in the next year, ap- 
peared before an ecclesiastical synod at Lambeth, near 
London. On this occasion his enemies were again frus- 
trated in their endeavors to get him into their power. His 
opinions had gained much favor, not only in the court, but 
among the people at large ; and many of these assembled 



JOHN WYCLIFFE. 87 

around the place appointed for his examination, and, 
alarmed for his safety, forced their way into the building, 
and proclaimed their high esteem of his person and opin- 
ions. The tumult thus occasioned was increased by the 
entrance of Sir Lewis Clifford into the court, with a mes- 
sage from the queen mother, forbidding the bishops to pro- 
ceed to any definite sentence respecting the doctrine or 
conduct of Wycliflfe. Thus all proceedings were again' 
suspended ; but not before the reformer had presented to 
the court in writing a candid statement of his doctrines 
and sentiments, respecting the limits needful to be imposed 
on the pretensions of the papacy. He therein took the 
ground that in accordance with the law of Christ, the pope 
is as liable to be called to account as any other, when guilty 
of sin ; and that even the laity may do this, if the cardinals 
omit it, and the welfare of the church demands it. He ad- 
vocated the power of the civil government to take posses- 
sion of the revenues and property of the clergy, when its 
possession by them is abused to improper purposes. He de- 
nied the sovereignty which the Roman bishops had so long 
claimed over the property of every religious establishment 
in Europe. He advocated the real equality, for the minis- 
try, of priests with bishops, claiming that the difference 
between them was merely one of jurisdiction. He taught 
that Christian discipline should never be made an instru- 
ment of vindictiveness, that disposition itself being forbid- 
den by Christ; and that the assumption of an unconditional 
authority of the keys, in the forms of binding and loosing, 
was usurpation of the divine power, and no less than blas- 
phemy ; saying, "we ought to believe, that then only does 
a Christian priest bind or loose, when he simply obeys the 
law of Christ." This was in direct opposition to the belief 
instilled into the people by the ecclesiastics, that their sen- 
tence of excommunication exposed the parties to the fires 



88 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS 

of purgatory, and often to eternal torments. This decla- 
ration was anonymously attacked soon afterward, and de- 
fended in a cogent reply by W3^clifi'e. 

About the same time, the year 13*78, he completed a 
worii " On the Truth and Meaning of Scripture ;" which is 
described as the most extended of any of his writings, and 
embodying nearly all his peculiar sentiments. It has only 
come down to us in a few copies preserved in manuscript. 
Yaughan gives the following account of a sickness which 
attended him at this period of his life. " The labor of pro- 
ducing such compositions, and the excitements inseparable 
from the restless hostilities of his enemies, so shook his 
frame at this period as to threaten his speedy dissolution, 
and in truth to lay the foundation of the malady, which, a 
few years later, was the occasion of his death. His old 
antagonists, the mendicants, conceived it next to impossible 
that an heresiarch so notorious should find himself near a 
future world, without the most serious apprehensions of 
approaching vengeance. But while thus conscious of their 
own rectitude, and certain that the dogmas of the reformer 
had arisen from the suggestions of the great enemy, some 
advantages to their cause were anticipated, could the dying 
man (as they supposed) be induced to make any recanta- 
tion of his published opinions. Wyclifife was in Oxford 
when this sickness arrested his activity, and confined him 
to his chamber. From the four orders of friars, four doc- 
tors, who were also called regents, were gravely deputed 
to wait on him ; and to these the same number of civil 
officers, called senators of the city, and aldermen of the 
wards, were added. When this embassy entered the apart- 
ment of the Rector of Lutterworth, he was seen stretched 
on his bed. Some kind wishes were first expressed, as to 
his better health, and the blessing of a speedy recovery. 
It was presently suggested, that he must be aware of the 



JOHN WYCLIFFE. 89 

many wrongs which the whole mendicant brotherhood had 
sustained from his attacks, especially in his sermons, and 
in certain of his writings ; and as death was now appar- 
ently about to remove him, it was sincerely hoped that he 
would not conceal his penitence, but distinctly revoke what- 
ever he had preferred against them to their injury. The 
Bick man remained silent and motionless until this address 
was concluded. He then beckoned his servants to raise 
him in his bed ; and fixing his eyes on the persons assem- 
bled, summoned all his remaining strength, as he exclaimed 
aloud : ' I shall not die, but live, and shall again declare 
the evil deeds of the friars!' The doctors and their at- 
tendants now hurried from his presence, and they lived to 
feel the truth of the prediction." 

His labors as a preacher were abundant, and he spared 
not to expose the manner in which the friars had abused 
their function of preaching, substituting for the truths of 
the gospel, "fables — chronicles of the world — stories from 
the battles of Troy" — and delusions intended to raise them- 
selves into distinction, or gratify their avarice or sensuality. 
He denounced as the "foulest traitors" those priests who 
were found "in taverns, and hunting, and playing at their 
tables," instead of "learning God's law, and preaching;" 
since, among the duties of their office, "most of all is the 
preaching of the gospel, for this Christ enjoined on his dis- 
ciples more than any other." It was no novelty, says 
Yaughan, to see him "in a village pulpit, surrounded by 
his rustic auditory; or in the lowest hovel of the poor, ful- 
filling his office at the bedside of the sick and the dying, 
whether freeman or bond. Over a sphere thus extended, 
his genius and influence were equally diffused." And he 
enjoined upon Christians a regular attention to the wants 
of the afflicted and the poor — "to visit those who are sick, 
or who are in trouble, especially those whom God hath 



90 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

made needy by age, or by other sickness, as the feeble, the 
blind, and the lame who are in poverty. These thou shalt 
relieve with thy goods, after thy power, and after their 
need, for thus biddeth the gospel." And he described it as 
a "cursed spirit of falsehood," which *' moveth priests to 
close themselves within stone walls for all their life," in- 
stead of going into all the world to preach the gospel. 
Through the whole of his sermons, as they have been 
handed down to us, Yaughan says, "the multiplied cor- 
ruptions of the hierarchy are vigorously assailed, as form- 
ing the great barrier to all religious improvement. The 
social obligations of men are also frequently discussed, and 
traced with a cautious firmness to the authority of the 
Scriptures ; while the doctrines of the gospel are uniformly 
exhibited as declaring the guilt and the spiritual infirmities 
of men to be such, as to render the atonement of Christ 
their only way of pardon, and the grace of the Divine 
Spirit their only hope of purity." When attacking the 
hierarchy with a boldness worthy of Luther, he spared 
not its head, the pope: "As if ashamed to appear as the 
servants of Christ, the pope and his bishops show the life 
of emperors and of the lordly in the world, and not the liv- 
ing of Christ. But since Christ hated such things, they 
give us no room to guess them to be the ministers of Christ. 
What good doeth the idle talk of the pope, who must be 
called of men, most blessed father, and bishops most rev- 
e7'end men, while their life is discordant from that of 
Christ ? In so taking of these names, they show that they 
are on the fiend's side, and children of the father of false- 
hood." 

He vigorously opposed the idolatrous doctrine of tran- 
substantiation, and in 1381, published a series of "Conclu- 
sions" in regard to it, denying that the bread and wine 
were to be considered as " Christ, or as any part of him,"" 



JOHN WYCLIFFE. yl 

though he considered them ''as an effectual sign of him." 
The great influence of the priests in the University of Ok- 
ford was now exerted to repel such an attack on a dogma 
in which their craft was so nearly concerned ; and the re- 
sult was, that in a privately convened assembly of twelve 
doctors, Wycliffe's views on this subject were denounced 
as erroneous and opposed to the decisions of the church, 
and suspension and excommunication were threatened 
against any member of the university who should incul- 
cate such opinions, or even be convicted of listening to 
their defense. Wycliffe, who knew nothing of what was 
going on, was occupied in lecturing to his pupils on that 
very subject, when a messenger entered the room and an- 
nounced, in the name of the chancellor and his coadjutors, 
the unlooked-for prohibition. Wycliffe paused a moment, 
in doubt what course to pursue in so formidable and unex- 
pected an emergency ; but presently recollecting the great 
importance of his position, he returned a message to the 
chancellor, that if the question must be one of force, and 
not of reason, he should appeal from this decision to the 
equity of the civil power. 

He now published another piece, called "The Wicket," 
in which he continued to assail this favorite papal dogma, 
showing the idolatry of those who worshipped the bread 
supposed to be consecrated by the priests, and asking the 
plain question, "Where find you that ever Christ or any of 
his apostles worshipped it ?" He shows the absurdity of the 
supposition that a thing which was made by man out of 
a natural product yesterday, should to-day be considered 
as God and worshipped, and affirms it to be reasonable 
to attach a figurative meaning to certain expressions of 
Christ in connection with the last supper. 

His old enemy, Courtney, recentl}^ appointed Archbishop 
of Canterbury, and consequently primate of England, now 



92 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

took up the subject, and endeavored to extirpate the new- 
views. An assembl}^ of prelates, doctors, and monks was 
convened bj him in the metropolis, ^vhich, after three 
days' deliberations, condemned as either heretical or erro- 
neous, thirty articles alleged to be taught by the reformer 
and his disciples. Among these articles are the following 
propositions: that there is no change in the substance of 
the bread and wine — that deadly sin forfeited the povver 
of priests and bishops — that auricular confession was un- 
necessary — that clerical endowments were unlawful — that 
tithes are merely alms, to be yielded to the clergy only as 
they are devout men, and according to the discretion of the 
contributors — and that the religious institutions (probably- 
alluding to the monasteries) are in themselves sinful, and 
tend to the injury of piety. The Bishop of London and 
other prelates were then appealed to, to stop the progress 
of these innovations, and prohibit the preaching of such 
"heresies and errors." Tiiese prohibitions were accord- 
ingly transmitted without delay to the various rectors, 
vicars, and parish chaplains in the vicinity of Lutterworth, 
and doubtless also to Wycliffe himself. Yet various influen- 
tial members of the University of Oxford w^ere so convinced 
of the rectitude of the views advocated by the reformer, that 
they could by no means lend a hand to his condemnation, 
and for a time the denunciation seemed as if it might share 
the fate of previous attempts against him. But the youth- 
ful king and his court were soon assailed by the clerical 
party, with urgent appeals to interpose the power of the 
government in their behalf; and the result was the pas- 
sage, by the parliament, of the first p]nglish statute law for 
the punishment of heresy. Under this statute several dis- 
ciples of Wycliffe were prosecuted, and some of them in- 
duced by fear to renounce their convictions; but he him- 
self does not appear to have been molested. Nearly sixty 



JOHN WYCLTFFE. 93 

years old, his incessant labors with his mind and pen were 
producing their natural effect upon his bodily health ; and 
bis increasing infirmity, added to the dread of offending his 
friend the Duke of Lancaster, may have deterred his ene- 
mies from taking active measures against him. 

He had been for some years engaged in preparing the 
greatest of all his works, a translation into English of the 
whole Bible from the Latin Yulgate version. In this 
arduous undertaking he was occupied at times during 
most of the remainder of his days, and finally succeeded 
in contributing to his fellow-countrymen the first cop}^ of the 
Holy Scriptures in their vernacular tongue. It is worthy 
of remark that in this work he did not recognize the in- 
spired authority of the books styled the Apocrypha, 
although included in the Yulgate version, and owned by 
the Romish church. As the art of printing was then un- 
known, the circulation of his English Bible was of course 
limited to manuscript copies ; but there is no reason to 
doubt that it became eminently serviceable in England in 
promoting a knowledge of Scripture truth among the peo- 
ple. It would have been still more useful, if the reformer's 
acquaintance with the Hebrew and Greek langua.ges had 
enabled him to make his version from the originals, instead 
of the incorrect version of the Latin Yulgate. But a 
knowledge of Greek and Hebrew was a rare accomplish- 
ment in England in those days. 

In pursuance of his message to the chancellor of the 
university, toward the close of the year 1382, Wycliffe pre- 
sented a memorial to the king and parliament, containing 
a summary of the most important of his tenets. He de- 
clares monastic vows to be a device of men, and of no obli- 
gation ; and all human authorities assuming to be superior 
to Scripture, or really in opposition to it, he considers as 
mere usurpations ; and advocates a return to the simplicity 

5* 



94 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

of the primitive church, when monachism was unknown. 
He combats the theory of certain friars, that the persons 
and property of ecclesiastics were beyond civil jurisdiction; 
showing its absurdity by exhibiting the natural results of 
such a notion fully carried out. Tithes he speaks of as 
rightfully limited to a voluntary offering of the needful 
food and clothing to those ministers who are devoted to 
their calling. The fourth and last subject of the memorial 
is in regard to the doctrine of the Eucharist; but in this 
portion of his declaration he chiefly declaims against ''the 
worldly business of priests." 

The impression made by the document was such, that 
the House of Commons petitioned the king to allow the 
repeal of the law lately passed against heretics, and levelled 
mainly against the disciples of the reformer. His converts 
had become numerous in various parts of the kingdom, 
and many zealous men, actuated by his precepts in regard 
to preaching without the motive of earthly profit or ad- 
vancement, were engaged in travelling from place to place, 
publishing, either in the public places of worship, or when 
debarred from the use of these, in fields or markets or open 
streets, their views of the liberty of the gospel, without 
human ordination. They were, from their general poverty, 
their remarkable simplicity and apparent meanness of 
dress, and their obvious want of anything in the nature 
of benefices, generally styled "the poor priests;" and the 
effect of their preaching was such as to rouse the jealousy 
and determined hostility of the regular priesthood. 

The parliament and the ecclesiastical convocation both 
met at Oxford. But by the craftiness of Courtney their 
attention was drawn away from the abuses in the church 
to the charges involved in the matter of the new doctrines, 
and to other matters entirely foreign from the repeal of the 
law against heretics. Wyclifte's attack on the received 



JOHN WYCLIFFE. 95 

dogma of the Eucharist was paraded before them as re- 
qmring especial attention ; and he was cited to appear be- 
fore the archbishop, to answer the charges laid against 
him. He had not on this occasion the influence of the 
Duke of Lancaster to protect him from his enemies; for 
when it was found that he was attacking not only the 
abuses of the papal system, but some also of its most 
cherished doctrines, John of Gaunt was no longer willing 
to eome forward to his assistance, but advised him to sub- 
mit to the views of the church. But it is said by one of 
his adversaries (Walsingham), that on this occasion, ''like 
an obstinate heretic, he refuted all the doctors of the second 
millenary." Thoug]^ himself not entirely clear in bis views 
in regard to the Eucharist, he clearl}^ conceived the usual, 
practice of the Romish church therein to be pure idolatry 
— the adoration of a piece of bread in the place of the 
Deity — and the presumption of priests in pretending to be 
endowed with a power to remake their own Maker, in 
professing to produce the body of the Lord Jesus in this 
bread, he vehemently denounced. 

The assembly before which he appeared was a numerous 
one, consisting of the archbishop and six other bishops, 
the chancellor, and a great number of doctors and priests, 
besides a crowd of spectators. He laid before the con- 
vocation two confessions of faith, one in Latin and the 
other in English, chiefly relative to the doctrine of tran- 
substantiation. In these documents, either through the con- 
fused mode of scholastic reasoning prevalent in those 
times, which was often calculated to obscure the clearest 
and most simple propositions, or from some other cause 
producing obscurity or apparent ambiguity, his enemies 
have taken occasion to assert that he abandoned some of 
his extreme views; and some have even gone so far as to 
allege that he recanted his main tenet on this question. 



96 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

There appears indeed a want of clearness of statement 
in them, which we should not have expected from the 
author of so many powerful invectives against the papal 
superstition. There may have been an anxiety in his mind, 
on this threatening occasion, to go as far as his conscience 
would allow him towards the views of the church, to avert 
the impending danger ; and this anxiety may possibly have 
produced an ambiguity of expression which he would not 
under other circumstances have given way to. Certain it 
is that the documents are not as clear as we should have 
hoped for, and that they were taken hold of to his disad- 
vantage, after his death, by some of his hostile biographers. 
Yet at the time when they were presented, it does not 
appear but that they were looked upon even by his enemies 
as proofs of his guilt ; and the result of the whole exami- 
nation was, that his connection with the University of Ox- 
ford was dissolved 'by virtue of a letter obtained from the 
king. In a treatise published soon afterwards, he de- 
clared the ''doctrine of the real presence" to be the "off- 
spring of Satan," and expresses his sentiments thus: 
" Oh ! that all who beheve could see how antichrist and 
his instruments condemn the sons of the church, and per- 
secute them even to death, because they maintain this 
truth as taught in the gospel. Truly aware I am, that 
the doctrine of the gospel may for a season be trampled 
under foot, that it may be overpowered in high places, 
and even suppressed by the threatenings of antichrist; 
but equally sure I am, that it shall never be extinguished, 
for it is the recording of truth itself, that ' Heaven and 
earth shall pass away, but so shall not my words.' Let 
the spirit of the faithful therefore awake itself, and dili- 
gently inquire as to the nature of this venerable sacra- 
ment, whether it be not indeed bread, as the gospel, the 
senses, and reasoi^ assure us. Certain verily I am, that 



JOHN WYCLIFFE. 97 

the idolaters who make to themselves gods, are not igno- 
rant of the real natm-e of these gods, though they pretend 
there is a something of deity within them, which is com- 
municated as by the God of gods."* These do not seem to 
be the words of one who would recant before his judges. 
The ambiguity of his previous declarations seems to have 
arisen in part from a confused idea, broached also in the 
last mentioned treatise, that "this venerable sacrament is 
naturally bread, and sacramentally the body of Christ;" 
while in other places of his numerous works he would 
rather appear to substitute the word ''figuratively," or ''a 
sign," for sacramentally. 

About this time also he was summoned by Pope Urban 
to appear at P.ome, on account of charges preferred against 
him there. But independent of the great imprudence of 
trusting himself to the dangers which he would certainly 
have encountered there, he was now suffering from the 
effects of paralysis, which rendered such a journey imprac- 
ticable. In his reply he expresses his entire willingness to 
tell his belief, " and always to the pope ;" and hopes that if 
he be in error, the pope will wisely amend it. He declares 
his faith in the authority of Scripture, and his determina- 
tion to follow the pontiff only as he shall be found to follow 
the Author of the gospel ; warns him against worldly great- 
ness by the example of Christ, who "had not where to rest 
his head ;" advising him to "leave his worldly lordship to 
worldly lords, as Christ enjoins him," and "to move all his 
clerks to do so ;" and tells him plainly, "I take as a part 
of faith, that no man should follow the pope, no, nor any 
saint that is now in heaven, only inasmuch as he followed 
Christ ; for James and John erred, and Peter and Paul 
sinned." And he concludes this unwelcome expression of 
independence, after stating his willingness to retract his 

* Vaughan's Life of Yv^ycliffe, vol. ii. p. 132. 



98 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

opinions if found erroneous, by the remark, "that as the 
providence of the Redeemer was plainly opposed to his 
visiting Rome, he trusts the pontiff will not show himself 
to be indeed antichrist, by insisting on a compliance with 
his pleasure on that point. "* 

It is probable that the difficulties in the popedom, occa- 
sioned by double papacy at this time, may have contributed 
to Wycliffe's safety from further molestation from Rome. 
But besides this, he had many influential friends in Eng- 
land, whose countenance of his opinions furnished more or 
less of a protection. Among these was Anne of Bohemia, 
the widow of the Black Prince, and mother to the young 
monarch, Richard II. — the same virtuous woman whom 
we have already seen to have prohibited proceedings 
against him in the convocation in London, some time pre. 
vious. And though the Duke of Lancaster had lately 
withdrawn from any obvious patronage or protection of 
the reformer, yet it does not appear that he had openly 
opposed him, or given encouragement to his enemies ; and 
his brother, the Duke of Gloucester, was believed to be 
favorable to him. But the king and court, influenced by 
the great body of the ecclesiastics, had turned against him. 
He retired to his rectory of Lutterworth ; and perceiving 
that his disciples in various places, and especially those 
itinerant preachers of reform who were styled the "poor 
priests," were liable to suffer severely under the recent 
statute against heresy, the repeal of which had failed, he 
published a small defense of their position, under the title, 
"Why poor priests have no Benefices." We may con- 
dense the contents of this interesting treatise, furnished by 
Yaughan, partly in the words of WycUffe himself, to show 
the condition of things in the priesthood of England at that 
period, as well as the character of these pious individuals 

■'i- Vaughan. 



JOHN WYCLIFPE. ^y 

" Three reasons are assigned for their refusal of benefices 
— first, the dread of simony ; second, the fear of misspend- 
ing poor men's goods ; and third, the hope of doing more 
good by itinerant labors than by limiting their exertions to 
a single parish. The customs connected with the system 
of patronage are said to be such, that whether an appoint- 
nxent to a benefice proceed from a prelate or from a secular 
lord, the demands usually made on the incumbent are of a 
description which must expose him to the guilt of simony. 
To prelates he must render the first fruits, and many other 
unlawful contributions; or he must descend to hold some 
worldly office, inconsistent with the life of a priest, and far 
from being taught by the example of Christ, or of his 
apostles. ' If there be any simple man who desireth to live 
well, and to teach truly the law of God, he shall be deemed 
a hypocrite, a new teacher, a heretic, and not suffered to 
come to any benefice. If, in any little poor place, he shall 
live a poor life, he shall be so persecuted and slandered that 
he shall be put out by wiles, extortions, frauds, and worldly 
violence, and imprisoned or burnt.' ' Some lords, to cover 
their simony, will not take for themselves, but kerchiefs for 
the lady, or a palfry, or a tun of wine. And when some 
lords would present a good man, then some ladies are the 
means of having a dancer presented, or a triper on tapits, 
or a hunter, or a hawker, or a wild player of summer gam- 
bols.' These practices are all denounced as treason against 
God — that prelates in selecting such men betray their trust 
and become vicars of Satan — and curates complj^ing with 
such customs to begin with, are not likely to prove faithful 
afterwards. One reason, therefore, why poor priests have 
no benefices is, that it was scarcely possible to accept of 
them without the guilt of simony. 

" The second reason was the fear of being compelled to 
misspend poor men's goods. Many rich entertainments 



100 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

must be made, sometimes for the gratification of lay pa- 
trons, and sometimes as a duty owing to the higher clergy 
when performing their feigned visitations. From such cus- 
toms, it is said to follow, that beneficed clergymen 'shall 
not spend their tithes and offerings after a good conscience 
and Grod's law, but must waste them on the rich and the 
idle.' To avoid that expenditure which the ostentatious 
and luxurious manners of the clergy in that age required, 
was to become the object of almost every species of malevo- 
lence. — Yet, to be without a benefice, was not regarded 
as being thereby released from the obligation of preach- 
ing ; and the voice of these conscientious men might often 
be heard in the precincts of the houses of public worship, 
or in the highway to the towns and villages. 

''The last reason given is, that they should probably be 
thereby hindered from better occupation, and more profit 
to the church. The charge w^hich they had received from 
above is declared to have respect to men in general, and to 
be binding ' wherever they may help their brethren to heav- 
enward, w^hether by teaching, praying, or example giving.' 
'And thus they may best, without any challenging of men, 
go and dwell among the people where they shall most 
profit, and for the time convenient, coming and going after 
the moving of the Holy Ghost, and not being hindered from 
doing what is best, by the jurisdiction of sinful mdn. Also 
they follow Christ and his apostles more, in taking volun- 
tary alms of the people whom they teach, than in taking 
dymes and offerings by customs which sinful men have 
ordained, in the time of grace' (probably meaning, during 
the Christian dispensation). — ' For these dreads, and for 
many thousand more, and for to be more like to the life of 
Christ and his apostles, and for to profit more their ovvm souls 
and other men's, some poor priests think with God to travel 
about where they shall most profit, and by the evidence 



JOHN WYCLTPFE. 101 

that God giveth them, while they have time, and a little 
bodily strength and youth. Nevertheless, they condemn 
not curates who do well in their office, and dwell where 
they shall most profit, and teach truly and stably the law 
of God against false prophets and the accursed deceptions 
of the fiend. Christ, for his endless mercy, help his priests 
and common people, to beware of antichrists' deceits, and 
to go even the right way to heaven !' " 

After his exclusion from Oxford, he continued dihgent 
with his pen. The most noted of his works published 
about this period was his ''Trialogus," a conversation be- 
tween three parties, Truth, Falsehood, and Wisdom, on 
various questions relating to religion and morality; in- 
cluding certain scholastic disputes of the time, with his 
own views on the far more important subjects of faith, sin, 
the love of God, the authority of Holy Scripture, the 
Eucharist, and baptism. It is not needful to follow his pen 
in all its activity at this period of his life. Many of the 
works then written are of no further interest at the present 
time than as coming from him, and tending to elucidate 
clearly what his sentiments really were. But it may be 
well to mention here, that in addition to the tenets alluded 
to in our previous pages, there were unmistakable indi- 
cations in some of his works, of his disapproval of war, 
both offensive and defensive, as inconsistent with the law 
of Christ.* In his treatise "On the Seven Deadly Sins," 
he says that the doctrine of the clergy of that day was, 
''that it is lawful to annoy an enemy in whatever way 
you can;" but that "the charity of Christ biddeth the con- 
trary." — "To keep men fighting, though humanity teaches 
that men should not fight, antichrist argues, that as an 
adder by his nature stings a man who treads on him, 
why should not we fight against our enemies, especially as 

» See Vaughan's Life of Wycliffe, vol. ii. p. 243 to 248. 



102 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

they would hence destroy us, and ruin their own souls? 
It is for love, therefore, that we chastise them ! But what 
man that hath wit cannot see this fallacy?" As to the 
title of conquest, he says that unless it be clearly enjoined 
by the Almighty, as in the case of the Israelites in Canaan, 
it cannot be lawful ; and in another place in the same work, 
in regard to defensive war, he holds the following emphatic 
and incontrovertible language, remarkable indeed as coming 
to us from the cloudy atmosphere of the fourteenth cen- 
tmy. "Angels withstood fiends, and many men with 
right of law withstand their enemies, and yet they kill 
them not, neither fight with them. The wise men of the 
world hold this for wisdom, and have thus vanquished 
their enemies without striking them ; and men of the 
gospel, by patience, and the prospect of rest and peace, 
have vanquished through the suffering of death, just as we 
may do now. But here men of the world come and say, 
that by this wise, kingdoms would be destroyed. But 
here our faith teaches, that since Christ is our God, king- 
doms should be thus established, and their enemies over- 
come. But peradventure, some men would lose their 
worldly riches — and what harm were thereof ? Well in- 
deed I know, that men will scorn this doctrine ; but men 
who would be martyrs for the law of God, will hold 
thereby. Lord, what honor falls to a knight; that he 
kills many men ? The hangman killeth vi&ny more, and 
with a better title Better were it for men to be butchers 
of beasts, than butchers of their brethren !" After de- 
scribing Wycliffe's earnest sentiments on this great sub- 
ject, Yaughan adds : "The disastrous influence of war on 
civilization, and literature, and liberty, the reformer could 
deplore. But its demoralizing effects, and the desolation 
which it forebodes with respect to eternity, filled his mind 
with emotions of amazement and horror." 



JOHN WYCLIPFE. 103 

In various works he spoke of tithes, as a mode of con- 
tribution for \Yhich no divine authority could now be 
pleaded That sanction, he acknowledged, had been con- 
nected with this practice under the Mosaic economy; but 
he assumed, that both the ritual and the polity of that dis- 
pensation had passed away.* In a manuscript treatise 
entitled, " Sentence of the Curse Expounded," he uses the 
following language : " Men wonder greatly why curates 
are so unfeeling to the people in taking tithes ; since Christ 
and his apostles took none as men now take them, neither 
paid them, nor spake of them, either in the gospel or in the 
epistles. But Christ lived on the alms of Mary Magdalene 
and other holy women, as the gospel telleth. And apostles 
lived sometimes by the labor of their hands, and sometimes 
accepted a poor livelihood and clothing, given by the people 
in free will and devotion, without asking or constraining. 
And to this end Christ said to his disciples, that they 
should eat and drink such things as Avere set before them, 
and take neither gold nor silver for their preaching, or their 
giving of sacraments. And Paul, giving a general rule 
for priests, saith thus, ' We having food and clothing, with 
these things be we content in Christ Jesus.' Paul also 
proved that priests who preach the gospel truly, should 
live by the gospel, and of tithes he said no more. True it 
is, that tithes were due to priests and deacons in the old 
law, and so bodily circumcision was then needful to all 
men ; but it is not so now, under the law of grace. Christ 
however was circumcised, and yet we read not where he 
took tithes as we do ; nor do we read in all the gospels 
that he paid them to the high-priest, or bade any other 
man do so. Lord, why should our worldly clergy claim 
tithes and offerings and customs from Christian people, 
more than did Christ and his apostles, and even more than 
men were burdened with under the law ?" 

* Vaughan's Life of Wycliffe, vol. ii. p. 284 to 291. 



104 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

About this time also, many objections being set afloat 
against the publication of the Scriptures in the vernacular 
English, he wrote a treatise "On the labor of antichrist 
and his clerks to destroy Holy Writ," etc.; in which he 
answers these objections, and argues the far greater au- 
thority and value of the Holy Scriptures, than of the 
papal decrees and the teaching of antichrist and his clerks. 
'' Christian men," he says, " are certain of the reality of their 
faith by the gracious gift of Jesus Christ, and that the 
truth in the gospel was taught by Christ and his apostles ; 
though all the clerks of antichrist say the contrary never 
so fast, and on pain of their curse, and imprisonment, and 
burning. And this faith is not grounded on the pope and 
his cardinals, for then it must fail and be undone, as they 
fail and are sometimes destroyed. But it rests on Jesus 
Christ, God and man," etc. 

Notwithstanding all the malice of his enemies, this emi- 
nent reformer was permitted to end his earthly career in 
peace. He had contended for many years with spiritual 
wickedness in high places ; but the time approached for 
his rest. We may quote the language of Yaughan, in de- 
scribing the close of his life. 

"The temper of his chief opponents was sufficiently 
known, to satisfy him that the continuance of his personal 
liberty, and even of life, arose less from their iiiclination 
than from their weakness. But his anticipations of a season 
in which their power would be equal to their malice, were 
not to be realized. The fact admits of explanation. It 
was known that the Duke of Lancaster still entertained a 
favorable judgment of his character; the papal schism ab- 
sorbed the attention of the pontiffs ; and the domestic dis- 
quietudes of England had long rendered the factions who 
governed it, in a great degree fearful of each other. In ad- 
dition to these causes, as serving to delay the introduction 



JOHN WYOLIFPE. 105 

of more sanguinary persecutions, the declining health of 
the reformer should be noticed. It was probable that his 
career would soon terminate ; and with him, his partisans 
may have been expected to disappear. 

" Previous to his death, he needed the assistance of a 
curate in performing his parochial duties. In this infirm, 
state, however, he continued at times to officiate ; and he 
is said to have been employed in administering the bread 
of the Eucharist, when assailed by his last sickness. The 
paralysis which now seized his frame deprived him at once 
of consciousness ; and after a short struggle, issued in the 
removal of his devout spirit to the abodes of natures more 
congenial with his own. This event happened on the last 
day of December, in the year 1384. Many good men have 
prayed to be called to their rest while thus occupied. We 
know not that it was so with Wycliffe ; but we know that 
he was taken 'from the evil to come.'" 

" Thirty winters had passed over his grave, when, in the 
Council of Constance, more than three hundred articles, 
said to be extracted from his manuscripts, were condemned, 
and with them the whole of his writings. And it was 
further decreed, that his memory should be pronounced 
infamous ; and that his bones, if to be distinguished from 
those of the 'faithful,' should be removed from the ground 
in which they were deposited, and cast upon a dunghill. 
Tradition and history report, that in pursuance of this sen- 
tence, his remains were taken from their place, reduced to 
ashes, and thrown into the river which still passes the 
town of Lutterworth." 



106 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 



CHAPTER yil. 



CONRAD WALDHAUSER. 



Huss had his j^recursors, as well as Luther. One of 
these was Conrad Waldhauser, an Augustinian monk, and 
a preacher of great inflaence. in Vienna from 1345 to 1360. 
When the pope, Clement YI., proclaimed the jubilee of 1350, 
Conrad was one of that immense multitude who undertook 
the pilgrimage to Rome to partake of the promised benefit, 
a plenary absolution of all sins. But instead of having his 
conscience more and more darkened, what he witnessed on 
that occasion seems to have opened his eyes to perceive the 
corruption of religion and the enormities of the priesthood, 
so that he returned to Austria a zealous preacher of repent- 
ance. . He afterwards travelled as a preacher "through all 
Austria," and at length proceeded to Prague, in Bohemia. 

Here, as is said by a recent American author,* "anxious 
to labor for the salvation of many, he went forth into the 
open market-place, and preached to immense audiences. 
The spirit of his sermons may be gathered from his own 
words: '^ot willing that the blood of souls should be re- 
quired at my hands, I traced, as I was able, in the Holy 
Scriptures, the future dangers impending over the souls of 
men.' " He exposed the vices of the monks, and their 
hypocrisy, calling them wolves in sheep's clothing. He 
showed that their mode of life was not warranted by any- 
thing in the Scriptures, denounced their bodily mortifica- 
tions and the mere machinery of religion which they had 
introduced, and protested against the perpetual vows to a 

*" Gillett, Life and Times of John Huss. 



CONRAD WALDHAUSER. 10 1 

monastic life, which were imposed by parents on their chil- 
dren. "They only," said he, "are the sons of God, who 
are led by the Spirit of God." He did not inveigh against 
the original institution of monasticism, but against its degen- 
eracy and the false pretensions by which the monks in that 
age were deluding the people. "The monks had become 
like the Pharisees of old. They had bound to men's shoul- 
ders burdens too heavy to be borne, which they would not 
themselves touch with one of their fingers. They had in- 
solently set themselves up as teachers of the people ; they 
had usurped the rights and privileges of pastors ; they had 
refused men the Bible in their own language. They had 
encouraged superstition, and aggravated the prevalent cor- 
ruption, by their vain questions and controversies, their 
useless school quarrels and nonsense. To carry out their 
designs, they made godliness a matter of traffic, introduc- 
ing themselves into houses, and leading simple women 
astray." 

The angry monks of course turned upon the zealous 
preacher who denounced their "craft," and endeavored to 
procure his overthrow. But they could not find any occa- 
sion of fault in the integrity of his life, nor successfully 
charge him with unsoundness of faith, especially as the 
emperor, Charles TV., was favorable to him. He is de- 
scribed, by a writer who outlived him,* as "a powerful 
preacher of repentance. He spoke forth to the people 
sharp warnings to flee from the wrath to come. 'No preva- 
lent vice escaped his rebuke. Pride of dress, usury, light- 
ness, and youthful vanities, were rebuked, and a powerful 
impression was made. The usurer gave up his ill-gotten 
gains. The thoughtless and giddy became serious. Quite 
a number of Jews were drawn to listen to his sermons. A 
radical change was eff'ected in the hearts of a large num- 

* Matthias of Janow, as quoted by Gillett. 



108 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

ber of his hearers, while the purity of his own life exhib- 
ited an example of what he commended to them." 

Some of the monks at length, in 1364, prepared a series 
of articles against him ; but when the day of trial came, 
no one dared to present them. Conrad died five years 
afterwards, thus probably escaping a rancorous persecu- 
tion. 



JOHN MILICZ. 

This eotemporary of Conrad Waldhauser was a native 
of Kremsier, in Moravia, who studied theology and law in 
the University of Prague, and in the course of his studies 
had been impressed with the superiority of the ancient 
Greek church in those countries. 

He held in Prague several offices of public trust, besides 
that of preacher, being appointed archdeacon by the arch- 
bishop. But finding that his opinions as expressed in his 
sermons were displeasing to the latter functionary and the 
priests, he resigned his lucrative post, and took a very 
humble position, in which his maintenance depended on 
the voluntary offerings of pious citizens. He had preached 
against various corruptions, such as ''the use of an un- 
known tongue in public worship, the celibacy, and wealth 
of the ecclesiastics, the vows of religious orders, the false 
miracles and legends of the monks, and their self-invented 
sanctity ;" and of course these were not palatable topics to 
those who felt themselves implicated. 

But, says Gillett,* "the tide turned in favor of the 

man whose sincerity of purpose and simplicity of speech 

stood in striking contrast with the conduct and manner of 

his opponents. The people cherished toward him a strong 

* Life and Times of John Huss. 



JOHN MILICZ. 109 

affection. They would not suffer him to be silent, and 
sometimes he was constrained to preach three or four 
times the same day." 

" His sermons were not unfrequently two or three hours 
long, and his only preparation — in many cases the only 
preparation possible — was prayer. His abstemiousness in 
eating and drinking was carried probably to an excess. 
He wore a rough hair shirt next to his skin ; and in his 
voluntary poverty, as well as in his writings, administered 
a severe reproof to the mendicants, who violated vows 
which he never had assumed. 

*' Matthias of Janow said of him, ' Having been a simple 
priest, and secretary at the prince's court, before his ex- 
perience of the visitation of the Spirit of Christ, he grew 
so rich in wisdom and all utterance of doctrine, that it was 
a light matter to him to preach five times a day — once in 
Latin, once in German, and then again in the Bohemian 
tongue — and this publicly, with a mighty force and a 
powerful voice ; and he constantly brought forth from his 
treasure things new and old.' 

" His preaching bore fruit in a striking reformation. 
Prague was noted for its depravity. It abounded in 
brothels. Milicz directed his energies, among other thingSj 
to the reform of licentious women. At first, twenty were 
converted, and a dwelling was procured for them. By en- 
listing the aid of devout women, the work was extended. 
Several hundreds were recovered from the paths of vice. 
A Magdalen hospital was founded. According to Janow 
the very face of the city was transformed. ' I confess,' he 
says, * that I cannot enumerate even the tenth part of what 
my own eyes saw, my own ears heard, and my own hands 
handled, though I lived with him but a short time.' 

" For six years Milicz continued to preach, unwearied in 
his efforts. But he was not satisfied with himself. His 

6 



110 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

humility made him feel that he was unfit to preach. He 
felt a strong impulse to seclusion, and yielding to it for a 
time, he meditated on the corrupt condition of religion 
throughout the world. It seemed to him that he beheld 
antichrist, in the various errors and abuses which stalked 
abroad under a Christian name. 

" Suddenly he felt called upon to visit the pope, narrate 
to him his visions, and utter his admonitions. He went, 
as he supposed, at the command of the Holy Spirit. He 
would have the pope originate a spiritual crusade for the 
overthrow of antichrist. A general Council should be 
called ; the bishops should devise means for restoring dis- 
cipline ; and monks and secular priests should be exhorted 
to go forth as preachers." 

Groing to Rome during the absence of the pope, in 1367, 
he waited long for his expected arrival. After several 
weeks' detention, and employing his time in fasting, in 
prayer, and in reading the Holy Scriptures, he posted on 
the doors of the cathedral a notice that on a certain day he 
would address the people; adding, it is said, "antichrist 
is come ; he has his seat in the church." This excited the 
monks, and he was arrested by the Inquisition, loaded 
with chains, and closely confined. "But," says Gillett, 
"he endured all with uncomplaining meekness. Not a 
bitter word escaped his lips, and his persecutors' were con- 
founded by his patient submission. After a prolonged im- 
prisonment, he was asked what he had intended to preach. 
He replied by asking his examiners to give him back his 
Bible, pen,' ink, and paper, and they should have his dis- 
course in writing. The request was granted ; and before 
a large assembly of prelates and learned men, he delivered 
his discourse, and it made a profound impression. Still he 
was kept in prison, and there composed his celebrated 
work on Antichrist." 



JOHN MILTCZ. Ill 

On the pope's arrival at length at Rome, Milicz was set 
at liberty, to the disappointment of the monks, and re- 
turned to Prague, to the great joy of his friends. 

He now recommenced his labors. Among other things, 
he instituted a school of two or three hundred young men, 
who received his instruction, and -for whose use he copied 
books; engaging them also in the work of transcription, 
for the purpose of multiplying and extending the circula- 
tion of religious and instructive works. His school formed 
a brotherhood, without any external badge, or vow, or 
ri^le, such as characterized the monastic orders ; but bound 
together by common sympathies and aims. Their ex- 
emplary conduct made them objects of vulgar reproach, 
and they were nicknamed, Miliczans, Beghards, etc. 

" His extraordinary course of activity, and reproof of 
sin, drew down upon him envy and persecution. The 
priests, whose disgraceful connections he rebuked, united 
against him. The archbishop, with great reluctance, was 
forced to call him to account for his street preaching. 
Twelve heads of accusation were drawn up against him 
(in 13t4) and sent to the pope." 

Gregory XI., the pope at that time, enjoined the Arch- 
bishop of Prague, and several bishops, to arrest the pro- 
gress of the innovation. But Milicz preferred to submit 
his case to the pope himself; and making his appeal to the 
pontifical chair, set out for Avignon, where the pope then 
was. We have no further information of his reception 
there, than that while his cause was still pending, he 
died in that city. 



112 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 



MATTHIAS OP JANOW. 



Matthias of Janow was a native of Prague, and for a 
short time a pupil of John Milicz. He studied and grad- 
uated at the University of Paris, travelled extensively, and 
afterward became a parish priest in the city of Prague, and 
confessor to the emperor Charles lY. By his own account 
it appears as if he had been powerfully visited by the im- 
mediate instructions of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus. He 
says, "Once my mind was encompassed by a thick wall. 
I thought of nothing but what delighted the eye and the 
ear, till it pleased the Lord Jesus to deliver me as a brand 
from the burning. And while I, worst slave to my pas- 
sions, was resisting him in every way, he delivered me 
from the flames of Sodom, and brought me into the place 
of sorrow, of great adversities, and of much contempt. 
Then first I became poor and contrite, and searched with 
trembling the word of God [meaning here the Holy Scrip- 
tures]. Then did I begin to wonder at the exaltation of 
Satan, and the blindness with which he covered the eyes 
of men. And then did the most loving crucified Jesus 
open my ear, that is, my understanding, that I might un- 
derstand the Scriptures appropriate to the present time ; 
and he lifted my mind up to perceive how men were ab- 
sorbed in vanity. And then reading, I clearly and dis- 
tinctly perceived the abomination of desolation standing 
proudly in the holy place ; and I was seized with horror 
and shuddering of heart. And I took up the lamentation 
of Jeremiah ; and I went to them, and, between the porch 
and the altar, exhorted and admonished them to deplore 
the evils that had befallen Jerusalem, the daughter of my 
people."* He then speaks, says Gillett, of the fire in his 

* Gillett's Life and Times of John Huss, vol. i. p. 27. 



MATTHIAS OF JANOW. 113 

bones which would not let him rest ; but he was forced to 
"dig through the wall" into "the chamber of imagery," 
and write what he had seen. 

Who can say that this was not the genuine work of the 
Divine Spirit, enlightening his mind to perceive the truth 
as it is in Jesus, and to discern the corruptions which had 
overspread professing Christendom as with a thick cloud of 
abominations? "No one can peruse his writings," adds 
the author above referred to, " without feeling that he has 
come in contact with a mind penetrated with the love of 
truth, and possessed of a clear insight into the spirit of the 
gospel. In an age when the worldly spirit was triumphant; 
when, with thousands of the priesthood, gain was godliness 
and promotion was success, he withstood the bribes which 
were extended to his selfishness and ambition. It was not 
without a bitter inward struggle that he finally was brought 
to the point of self-renunciation and self-denial. The record 
which he has left us of his experience is exceedingly vivid. 
It portrays the spiritual conflicts through which he was 
called to pass, in words which reveal the process by which 
he was prepared for his work. 

" ' My feet,' he says, * had almost gone ; my steps had 
well-nigh slipped. Unless a crucified Jesus had come to 
my rescue, my soul had sunk to hell. But he, my most 
faithful and loving Saviour, in whom is no guile, showed 
me their counsels ; and I knew the face of the harlot, by 
which she allures all that stand at the corners of the streets 

and the entrances of the paths Nevertheless, I 

prayed to God and the Father of my Lord Jesus Christ. 
. . . . "0 Lord and Father, who ordainest my life, leave 
me not to their thoughts and counsels, and let me not be 
taken in their net ; lest I fall under that reproachful sin 
which shall sting my conscience and drive out wisdom 
from my soul I" ..... I confess, before God and his 



114 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

Christ, that so alluring was this harlot antichrist, and she 
so well feigned herself the true spouse of Christ, or rather, 
Satan by his arts so tricked her out, that from my early 
years I was long in doubt what I should choose, or what 
I should keep ; w^hether I should seek out and chase after 
benefices, and thirstily grasp after honors, which to some 
extent I did, or rather go forth without the camp, bearing 
the poverty and reproach of Christ ; whether, with the 
many, I should live in quest of an easy and quiet life for 
the moment, or rather cling to the faithful and holy truth 
of the gospel ; whether to commend what almost all com- 
mend, lay my plans as many do, dispense with and gloss 
over the Scriptures as many of the great and learned and 
famous of this day do, or rather manfully inculpate and 
accuse their unfruitful works of darkness, and so hold to 
the simple truth of the divine words, which plainly contra- 
vene the lives and morals of men of this age, and prove 
them false brethren ; whether I should follow the Spirit of 
Wisdom with its suggestions, which I believe to be the 
Divine Spirit of Jesus, or follow the sentiment of the great 
multitude, which, in their self-indulgence, without show of 
mercy or charity, while lovers of this world and full of car- 
nal vanities, they claim to be safe. I confess that between 
these two courses I hung wavering in doubt; and unless 
our Lord Jesus be our Keeper, none will escape the honeyed 
face and smile of this harlot — the tricks of Satan and the 
snares of Antichrist.' " 

He was willing that all his opinions should be tested by 
their accordance with Holy Scripture. In his writings he 
rejects the authority of human traditions and popish de- 
cretals, and severely arraigns the conduct of the bishops 
and priests. He declares that antichrist is neither Jew, 
Pagan, Saracen, nor mere worldly tyrant, but the "man 
who opposes Christian truth and the Christian life by way 



MATTHIAS OP JANOW. 115 

of deception ; — he is and will be the most wicked Chris- 
tian, falsely styling himself by that name, assuming the 
highest station in the church, and possessing the highest 
consideration, arrogating dominion over all ecclesiastics 
and laymen;" — one who, by the working of Satan, assumes 
to himself power and wealth and honor, and makes the 
church, with its goods and sacraments, subservient to his 
own carnal ends.* He declares that the kingdom of 
antichrist is to be spiritually annihilated by the Ahuighty, 
— " by the breath of his mouth" — the utterance of his elect 
priests and preachers, who should go forth in the spirit of 
Elias and Enoch. This work was to go on like the opera- 
tion of leaven, or like the growth of mustard seed. He laid 
open some of the causes of the great apostasy, in the 
neglect of the Holy Scriptures and reverence for popish 
decretals and human ordinances ; the seeking of salvation 
in sensible and corporeal things, rather than in the crucified 
Lord; the censure and persecution of those who confessed 
Christ, while the stately ceremonies of the false prophet 
were extolled. But, said he, no multiphcity of human laws 
and ordinances can meet every contingency. The Spirit of 
God alone can do this. "So I have gathered from the 
Holy Scriptures ; and I believe that all the above-named 
works of men, ordinances and ceremonies, will be utterly 
extirpated, cut up by the roots, and cease, — and God alone 
will be exalted, and his word will abide forever." 

He called men back to the Scriptures ; yet, as if aware 
that even here was not the original source itself of divine 
counsel or of salvation, he recurs to that wisdom and 
mercy which gave them forth ; saying, according to Gillett: 
"But positive law has been ineffectual to recover fallen 
men, and Christ has left to them the Law of the Spirit : to 
its sound and simple beginnings the Christian church 

* Gillctt's Life of IIuss. 



1J6 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

should be brought back. — Monastic orders are not needed 
for the governing of the church. The unity of this is found 
in its union with Christ." 

Matthias's principal writing^ are, his work on ''Anti- 
christ," that on ''The Kingdom, People, Life and Manners 
of Antichrist," the "Abomination of Carnal Priests and 
Monks," and the books on the "Abolishing of Sects," and 
on "The Unity of the Church." In the first of these he 
comes forth with especial boldness against some of the 
false assumptions of the papacy. As quoted by Gillett, 
we find him describing three false principles "formed from 
the tail of antichrist. The first is, that as soon as any one 
is elected Pope of Rome, he becomes head of the whole 
militant church, and supreme vicar of Christ on earth. 
This is pronounced a bare lie! The second is, that what 
the pope determines in matters of faith, is to be received 
as of equal authority with the gospel. This is likewise 
pronounced false ; for we must believe him who has so 
often erred in matters of faith, only when he is supported 
by the Scriptures. The third — that the laws of the pope 
are to be obeyed before the gospel — is declared blasphe- 
mous ; for it is blasphemy to believe the pope or any one 
else, or accept his laws, in preference to Christ." 

In his work on the "Abomination of Carnal Priests and 
Monks," he is unsparing in his reprehensions of the "luke- 
warmness of the prelates, their avarice, wealth, and simony, 
the negligence of the priesthood, the unseemly strifes be- 
tween the monks and the regular clergy, the sacrilegious 
sale of sacred things, the barter of masses, indulgences, 
etc., the false worship offered to the bones of dead saints, 
while God's poor but devoted children are despised." 
The reign of hypocrisy, he thought, had become universal. 
"There were, indeed, not a few faithful still left, like the 
seven thousand in Israel that had never bowed the knee to 



MATTHIAS OF JANOW. lit 

Baal. But by the iniquity of the times they were driven 
into solitude. Ambitious and worldly men, by disgraceful 
methods, attained power and influence in the church. 
Wickedness, if powerful and gilded with pomp, was flat- 
tered. — But, he says, antichrist is to be destroyed — 
* Christ will destro}^ him by the breath of his mouth and 
by the brightness of his coming.' He will raise up those 
who shall proclaim his word, and thus consume the lies 
and errors of the great deceiver." 

Matthias protests that he does not, in thus writing, di- 
rect his words against any individual, but at the general 
apostasy — that nothing is said in bitterness or pride — and 
that if his books are read as written, none will be injured. 
He declares that he would not have dared to write but for 
the irresistible impulse of truth. 

It was wonderful that with all this boldness of invective 
against the prevalent system, he was not condemned as a 
heretic and burned at the stake. Gillett says, however, 
that he was considered as an innovator, and that, in 1389, 
he was arraigned before the synod of Prague, and his 
opinions condemned. He was afterward banished from 
the city, but, through the favor of the emperor, was soon 
enabled to return. 

About five years afterward, in 1394, he died, and in 
1410 his writings were committed to the flames. But the 
flames could not devour the effect they must have produced 
on the awakening minds of men of that age in Bohemia. 



6* 



118 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 



MATTHEW OF CRACOW. 



Matthias Cracoviensis was descended from an ancient 
family of note in Pomerania. No account has come down 
to us respecting his parents, or the date or place of his 
birth ; but it seems probable that he was born about the 
middle of the fourteenth century. He had a thorough . 
education in the schools of philosophy and theology of that 
day. But he seems to have been a man of an active and 
energetic mind, preferring to think for himself on import- 
ant subjects, rather than to be bound to keep in the beaten 
track of the schools of the middle ages. The corrupt con- 
dition of the Komish church, and especially of the eccle- 
siastical body, seems to have early engaged his serious 
attention. In 1384, he delivered a discourse on the improve- 
ment of morals, both in priests and people, before an archi- 
episcopal synod in Prague, in which city, as well as in the 
University of Paris, he was engaged for some time in lec- 
turijig, and in the latter city presided for a while over the 
faculty of theology. 

Thence he w^as invited by the Emperor Rupert to a post 
in the University of Heidelberg, then in its infancy; he 
afterward became chancellor to Rupert, and in 1405, through 
tlie emperor's influence, he was made Bishop of Worms. 
Ullmann* says of him, that he "had in his travels and mis- 
sions, and by his intercourse both with the great and the 
humble, collected a rich and extensive knowledge of man- 
kind and experience of the world. In particular, his situa- 
tion as bishop, and his repeated missions to Italy on affairs 
of high importance, could not but make him familiarly ac- 
quainted with the Roman court and the whole hierarchy." 

He left behind him many writings in manuscript, some 

* "Reformers before the Reformation," vol. i. p. 304. 



MATTHEW OP CRACOW. 119 

of which were afterward published in print. We must 
remember that the art of printing by movable types was 
not known until several j^ears after his death. Among the 
most noted of his works, is one which, from the indignant 
boldness of his invectives against the corruptions of the 
professing church in his day, justifies us in ranking Matthew 
of Cracow among the most decided of the forerunners of 
the Reformation. This work is a treatise " On the Pollu- 
tions of the Romish Court;" and appears to have been 
written a little previous to the year 1409, about the period 
when the *schism in the papacy seemed to open a door for 
conscientious minds to cherish doubts, at least privately, 
yet sufficiently to afford a leaven for the future, respecting 
the boasted infallibility of the popes, and the degree of im- 
plicit faith and obedience due to their appointments and 
decisions. It may be that the weakness occasioned by this 
papal schism furnished a reason why the author of so bold 
an attack on the prevailing corruptions did not encounter 
the hostility and persecution of the ecclesiastical powers. 
His favor with the emperor was an additional source of 
impunity, and probably also his earh^ death after the pub- 
hcation of the work. 

At this period, the practice of simony, or buying and 
selling the ecclesiastical offices, had become almost univer- 
sal, from the popes to the lowest priest. ''No competi- 
tion," says Matthew, "for any situation, however low, 
meets with any success at Rome, unless a ducat be first 
paid, and paid to the last penny." "This method of ap- 
pointing to offices is a chief impediment to the promotion 
of able and honorable men ; for these are restrained by good 
sense and shame from coming forward and stooping to the 
usual means. AYhereas, on the other side, it is an easy 
way for light-minded persons and vagabonds, who are ready 
for everything, and demean themselves to the lowest ser- 



120 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

vices, to obtain high situations. Can anything be more 
lamentable ?" " There is scarcely a person, however prof- 
ligate and scandalous, who may not be admitted into the 
spiritual office. No attention is paid by those who have 
the power, to the correction of such offenders. To breathe 
a word on the subject would seem ridiculous — they have 
no time to spare for such a purpose — they are occupied day 
and night with vacancies, lawsuits, hunting after proper- 
ties, and the ceremonies and forms of the papal court." — 
" Even the bishops are seldom possessed of a Bible — they 
are blind leaders of the blind, and in place of guiding the 
people in the paths of righteousness, rather mislead them." 
This was the language of a German bishop, more than one 
hundred years before Luther's appearance at the same city. 
In the same treatise he combats boldly the right of the 
Romish chair (w^hether paid for it or not) to fill the offices 
of bishops and other high dignitaries of the church ; calls 
it an encroachment on the long established privilege of elec- 
tion ; designates some of the practices often connected with 
it as nothing short of fraud ; and says, " What has resulted 
from the practice which has hitherto obtained ? Nothing 
but a mass of simony. Simony however is heresy, and no 
venial but a very heinous sin. It robs all who commit it 
of grace, and places them in the state of eternal perdition; 
so that the pope, and all who take part in the sale of 
offices, are living in a state of condemnation. For the 
practice and encouragement of simony, as now carried on 
in the court of Rome, is neither accidental, nor proceeds 
from w^ant of thought ; but on the contrary is deliberate 
and intentional, has grown into a habit, and is therefore 
unpardonable. This assertion will appear harsh to many, 
and I myself at first shrank not merely from the Avords, but 
even from the thought." — ''And how ruinous are other con- 
sequences of such practices ! The churches are cheated 



MATTHEW OF CRACOW. 121 

with unworthy priests ; the spiritual office is abused ; able 
and godly men are excluded from it; the universities and 
schools fall into decline, etc." 

Some of the Romish courtiers, he says, excuse this buy- 
ing and selling of offices by the allegation, that the money 
is not received for the place, but for the trouble of bestow- 
ing it; to which he replies that it is none the less to be 
considered a low-minded transaction, unworthy of so great 
a prince ; and suggests that for the trouble of the business 
"a florin would be quite a sufficient fee !" To the excuse, 
that "the pope is the lord of all," and that consequently 
all the property of the church belongs to him of right, 
Matthew replies: "God alone is the absolute Lord of all. 
All other lordship is limited. No man, not even the pope, 
has any more power than what God has given him ;" and 
he goes on to show that the pope, like other men, is hable 
to error, and, as a man, insufficient for such a lordship. 
"How," asks he, " could it ever have been the will of the 
Lord, who bought the church with his blood, that any one 
man, who may possibly be ignorant and ill-disposed, but 
who, at any rate, is subject to mistake and error, should 
govern it merely according to his own fancy?" — "In 
Scripture not a word is said of the right of the pope to 
keep benefices in his own hand, or to put them into his 
purse. Nor does this tend to edify the church, for it 
drives away from it the poor, however fit they may be for 
the duties, and it fosters avarice and cupidity." 

Matthew allows that the pope ought to have sufficient 
means to live respectably; but insists that these means 
must be legitimately obtained. "If," says he, "the neces- 
sities of the pope be really urgent, and if his object be not 
the mere accumulation of treasure, all he has to do, in 
order to raise money in a pious way, is just to assemble 
the bishops and advise with them. Were they indeed to 



122 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

refuse to assemble, it would be no more than the Church 
of Rome deserved, because by her neglect of the Councils 
she has dishabituated the prelates from attending them. — 
From the neglect of the Councils, numerous evils have 
arisen both in past and present times, etc." 

In reply to the allegation, that although the pope does 
wrong, yet it is right to obey him, Matthew says that 
even the pope cannot escape from the inward and mental 
judgment which is every one's right respecting his public 
acts, and that he is, moreover, liable to be condemned by 
a judgment of the church as a whole, or by its representa- 
tives. ''No doubt," he adds, " the apostle justly says that 
' whosoever resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of 
God ;' but the pope has no power to govern badly, or to 
destroy ; and he who resists him in any such attempt, 
resists not the power, but the abuse of it, and so does not 
resist God, from whom the abuse does not come." 

To the objection, that subjects ought not to judge their 
rulers, he thus boldly answers, '' that the principle is true 
in all matters that are either good or indifferent; but 
where there is a manifest mischief, the <;ase is altered. 
The head ought to govern the members, but not to mis- 
lead or destroy them. When he does that, he does not 
govern them, and then neither are they bound to obey 
him, because he thereby ceases to fulfill the duties of the 
head." 

It is evident that Matthew of Cracow desired a reforma- 
tion, but not a revolution, in the Romish church. He did 
not apparently see the errors of doctrine which were in 
some sort at the root of the gross errors in practice which 
he so boldly denounced. He looked to a correction of the 
abuses, but not to a subversion of the whole system. Yet 
this treatise, published even before the dawn after a long 
dark night, was calculated to arouse the dormant minds of 



JOHN HUSS. 123 

men, and bring them to question whether the basis was not 
corrupt, on which so much corruption had accumulated; 
and he opened the way for such thoughts to find favorable 
entrance, by denying the infallibility of the pope, and 
showing that he was, like other men, liable to human 
frailty, and amenable to trial and even to the forfeiture of 
his- position, by a judgment of the church. 

We have no information of the effect immediately pro- 
duced by this treatise ; but it shows that the harvest of 
the sixteenth century was even then in its germ, and it 
seems like some of the seed toward that harvest, sown for 
a hundred years, to produce fruit in the times of Luther 
and Iwelancthon. 

Of the closing days of Matthew's life, we know little 
more than that, in 1409, he attended the Council of Pisa, 
and that he died the next year in his episcopal city of 
Worms. He was buried in the cathedral there, where an 
epitaph still marks the place of his sepulture. 



CHAPTER YIII. 

JOHN HUSS. 



The life of this eminent man was so mingled with the 
political disturbances of Europe and the ecclesiastical in- 
trigues and hierarchical changes of the day, that to develop 
it fully in its relations thereto, would require a volume of 
itself. It is moreover already so much a matter of history 
that our present purpose will be answered by a brief de- 
lineation of the main features of his course as a reformer 
and a martyr, leading the way in men's minds for the 
more successful upheaving of the mighty revolution in the 



124 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

profession of religion, which took place in the following 
century. 

John Huss was born at the village of Hussinitz, in the 
southern part of Bohemia, in the year 1313, or according 
to some writers, four years earlier. His parents were poor, 
but honest, and worthy peasants,* w^ho spared no pains 
to give their son a good education. At first he was sent to 
a school in his native village, kept in a monastery not far 
from his parents' residence. Here he devoted himself 
zealously to his studies, and his quiet habits and lively in- 
telligence won for him the favor of the monks who taught 
the school. They were however too ignorant to instruct 
him in Latiu, and as he became ambitious to acqilire a 
knowledge of many books which he found written in that 
language only, he was, after a time, transferred to a higher 
school at the neighboring village of Prachatitz. Here he 
made rapid progress in rhetoric, and in the Latin and Greek 
languages, and after completing the course of study in that 
institution, his widowed mother took him to the city of 
Prague, and placed him in the university. He obtained a 
position in the house of one of the teachers, receiving his 
food and clothing in return for his services in the family, 
and having the advantage of access to a good library. He 
was then about sixteen years of age. He pursued his 
studies with such assiduit}^ and success, and v/as so highly 
esteemed by the faculty and by the students, that in little 
more than twelve years he received all the degrees which 
that celebrated school could bestow (except that of Doctor 
in Theology, which it does not appear that he ever took) 
and was made rector of the university. 

There were during those years quite a number of religious 
persons in Prague, whose minds were burdened with the 

■-•••'Von schlechten land gerechten ^Iten." Zitte : Leb. des Job. llus, 
p. 20. 



JOHN HUSS. 125 

prevailing corruption, and who longed for a reform. The 
writings of Wycliife also had found their way into Bohe- 
mia, and had attracted much attention in kindred minds. 
Huss however at first looked coldly on these, suspecting 
that the Englishman had gone too far with his innovating 
views. But his mind was gradually led to understand the 
sad degeneracy of the church, and to take a deep interest 
in the question of a thorough practical reform ; and after a 
time he was able more truly to appreciate and more fully 
to approve of many of the sentiments presented to him in 
the writings of Wycliffe. 

He became greatly afflicted with what he now saw of 
the profligacy and vice of those who had assumed the 
place of pastors and teachers to the flock, and with the 
general neglect of the Holy Scriptures, and the substitu- 
tion of popish decretals. 

In the year 1401, he was appointed confessor to Queen 
Sophia, wife of the King of Bohemia ; and soon afterward 
he was selected by the founder of Bethlehem Chapel in 
Prague, to occupy the important position of preacher there. 
This chapel had peculiar endowments, and privileges, 
leaving the possessor of its pulpit free from ecclesiastical 
control or restraint, except^ such as might be exercised by 
the direct intervention of the pope. Here John Huss 
therefore occupied a comparatively independent position, 
and here he continued to preach for twelve years to crowded 
audiences. 

His sentiments meantime Vv^ere gradually maturing and 
developing, respecting the great question of a reform from 
the corrupt state into which the mass of the professors of 
Christianity had lapsed. The writings of Wycliffe, though 
they had been condemned in England in 1403, attracted 
more and more of his approval, and of the attention of 
multitudes both in and out of the university. The Bohe- 



126 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

mian students were mainly favorable to the reforming sen- 
timents ; but those of other nations attending the school, 
chiefly Grermans, to the number of many thousands,* 
stoutly opposed what they looked upon as heretical inno- 
vations; and thus the university became greatly divided 
in feeling. To some of his fellows in the school, who had 
come upon him while reading one of Wycliffe's books, and 
reproached him with it, Huss replied : " I only wish that 
my soul, when it leaves this body, may reach the place 
where that of this excellent Briton now dwells." And this 
desire he frequently afterward repeated, it is said, in his 
sermons in the chapel. 

He fearlessly exposed the base artifices of the priests, by 
which they attempted to palm off upon the ignorant and 
superstitious people their false pretensions to miraculous 
intervention. After some years he lost the position of 
rector of the university, through the dissatisfaction of the 
German students with the advancing sentiments of reform. 
But at length, probably instigated by Queen Sophia, the 
king interposed his authority, by which the Bohemian 
students were put on an equality of influence with the 
foreigners. The latter consequently lost their preponder- 

* Grille tt supposes about 5000; but -many authors greatly exceed this 
number. Gillett had probably misconstrued what iEneas Sylvius says on 
the subject, who states that upwards of 5000 departed for Leipsic alone 
within a few days. Palacky, however, who quotes this, adds that a Bo- 
hemian Annalist, of that period, affirms that more than 20,000 in all left 
Prague. Zitte (Leb. des Joh. Hus, vol. *i. p. 95) quotes Balbinus the 
Jesuit, as saying that Hagek computed them at 40,000, Lupacz at 44,000, 
and even Lauda, a cotemporary, at 36,000, who left Prague for various 
other universities. Zitte indorses the latter number, incredible as it may 
appear to us; for he says (p. 92): "Their trains amounted to three or four 
thousand persons ; and in a period of eight days, there had departed 
36,000 students, with their professors and teachers." Hoefler, a modern 
writer against IIuss, says that at any rate they exceeded 20,000 ; and 
quotes a cotemporary Bohemian chronicler, as asserting that 34,000 at- 
tended the university, besides those who took lessons outside (p. 249). 



JOHN HUSS. 12'! 

ancy in the affairs of the institution, and in their anger and 
disappointment left the city. Upon this, IIuss was again 
elected ; but this circumstance called forth much hostile 
feeling against him in Prague, among those who favored 
the German element in the school, and who were opposed 
to the party who had adopted or approved the writings of 
W3"Clifife. The monks also found themselves set aside, and 
the many tradesmen who had gained by the custom of the 
students were greatly exasperated. 

At length the books of the English reformer were con- 
demned by the Archbishop of Prague, and all possessing 
them were required to give them up to that functionary. 
Huss remonstrated with him, but in vain. More than two 
hundred manuscript volumes, many of them very expen- 
sively executed, were collected for the flames. The pope 
sustained the archbishop, ordered the books to be burned, 
and prohibited Huss from continuing to preach in the 
chapel. But the pope died, the king interfered, Huss re- 
fused to be silenced, and for a time it appeared as if the 
burning of the books might be averted. The archbishop 
however resolved to perform his part, and in the summer 
of 1410, protected by bauds of soldiers, and accompanied 
by several bishops and a large number of ecclesiastics, 
with the tolling of the tower bells and much pomp, he pro- 
ceeded to burn the books in the court of his palace. But a 
cry of indignation went through Bohemia. Even some of 
the priests, and several of the nobility, protested against 
the deed ; the queen wept, and the king cursed aloud. 
The populace became excited, and some tumults occurring, 
the archbishop began to tremble in his palace. He had 
barbarously destroyed more than two hundred costly 
volumes ; but he had by no means obtained them all, and 
those which escaped his vigilance became increasingly 
valued. 



128 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

Meantime Huss appealed to the papal chair against the 
prohibition to preach, and went on with his functions as 
before. The evils which he rebuked, says his American 
biographer Gillett, ''were too glaring to be denied. He 
held up to view the purity and holiness required by Christ, 
and in this mirror exposed the avarice, ambition, luxury, 
sensuality, and violence of the profligate ecclesiastics. He 
could not compromise with his convictions; and with a 
high consciousness of his responsibility to God rather than 
men, he aimed to discharge his whole duty." 

Huss having appealed to the pope, that functionary 
placed the matter, first in the hands of a commission, and 
afterward in charge of Cardinal Otho de Colonna; who 
gave a ready ear to the charges against the reformer, and 
required him to appear personally before the pope at 
Rome. This, at a distance of 1200 miles, and through a 
country filled with his reckless foes, Huss could not with 
a reasonable regard for his own safety attempt. The king 
and queen of Bohemia, the University of Prague, and many 
lords and barons, united in sending an embassy to request 
the pope to dispense with his presence in Rome, and to 
suffer him to continue to preach in the chapel; and Huss 
himself sent three agents to plead his cause. But the car- 
dinal refused to listen to them, and the request to the pope 
was treated with contempt. Colonna issued a decree of 
excommunication against Huss, for disobedience in refusing 
to appear at Rome. This was in the spring of 1411 ; but 
Huss still continued to preach as before, and the archbishop 
in anger closed the places of worship and placed the whole 
city under an interdict. 

This prohibition of their accustomed religious ceremonies 
the populace could not endure. They appealed to the 
king, and the archbishop becoming weary of the conten- 
tion, and perhaps fearful of the people's hostility, agreed to 



JOHN HUSS. 129 

a compromise, by which all proceedings against Huss, as 
well as the interdict upon the city, were suspended until 
further orders should arrive from Rome. Archbishop 
Sbynco soon afterward died at Presburg, on his way to 
solicit assistance in his difficulties from the Emperor Sigis- 
mund, who was also King of Hungary. 

Huss now became fully aroused to the necessity of 
clearly exposing the false pretensions of the papacy. He 
maintained before the university that antichrist was already 
come, and had obtained the highest dignity in Christendom, 
exercising authority over all Christian people ; but that 
being a chief enemy and adversary of Christ, obedience 
was no longer a duty, but rather resistance of his usurpa- 
tion. The papal court was occupied by a contest with 
Ladislaus, King of Naples, and issued a bull, calling on 
all to engage in a crusade against him, and offering indul- 
gences* to such as should enlist in the papal army or pay 
a sum adequate to purchase a substitute. This bull and 
offer of indulgence Huss stoutly opposed, as totally at 
variance with the spirit of Christianity. ** One ought 
rather," said he, '' to endure wrong patiently, after the ex- 
ample of Christ and his apostles, than spur on Christians 
to exterminate Thie another. Does any one say that these 
commands (of Christ) belong only to those that are per- 
fect ? Then the pope should be the most perfect among 
the clergy, "f 

In the summer of 1412 that notoriously wicked man, 
Belthazar Cossa, who had been elected to the papacy 
through corrupt means in 1410, after the death of Alex- 
ander y., and had assumed the name of John the Twenty- 
third, put the case of this reformer into the hands of one of 

* " Die NacWassung aller der Siinden die sie dem Herzen bereuen und 
mit dem munde beichten." See the bull at length in Zitte, vol. i. p. 262. 
t Gillett's Life and Times of John Huss, vol. i. p. 210. 



130 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

the cardinals, who issued another bull of excommunication 
against Huss. In this terrible instrument not only was 
Huss nominally cut off from the church militant, but all 
men were forbidden to give him food or drink. " None 
might buy of him or sell to him ; none were to converse or 
hold intercourse with him ; none might give him lodging, 
or allow him fire or water. Every city, village, or castle 
where he might reside was put under interdict." "If he 
died excommunicate, he was to be denied church burial ; 
or, if buried in consecrated ground, bis body was to be dug 
up again from its grave!"* The pope himself followed 
this up by still another fulmination, ordering the person of 
John Huss to be seized, and his chapel to be levelled to the 
ground. On this being reported at Prague, a mob of Ger- 
mans, bitterly opposed to Huss, marched in arms to the 
chapel, for the purpose of tearing it down. But finding- 
Huss then in the pulpit, encompassed by a large assembly, 
their zeal failed them, and they went away without accom- 
plishing their nefarious project. 

Huss continued to preach in Bethlehem Chapel till near 
the close of the year 1412. The king had issued a decree 
to relieve the city, in some measure, from the effects of the 
interdict ; but Huss found his position there not only in- 
creasingly difficult for himself, through the continual efforts 
of his enemies for his destruction, but constantly affecting 
also the great body of the citizens themselves with what 
they looked upon as a great disaster ; the papal interdict 
being only partially and irregularly counteracted by the 
intervention of the king. The pope's power was considered 
paramount to the authority of the king, even in his own 
dominions. Huss therefore concluded, for a time at least, 
to leave Prague, and toward the end of that year he re- 
turned to his native village. In doing so, he drew up a 

* Gillctt's Life and Times of John Huss, vol. i. p. 226. 



JOHN HUSS. 131 

solemn appeal to his Divine Master against the injustice of 
"this pretended and frivolous excommunication." 

In his absence from Prague he did not give himself up 
to inaction, but preached in various places around his resi- 
dence much as he had done in his chapel. We are told that 
''throngs crowded to hear, and were curious to see, a man 
who had been excommunicated, yet who spoke with" such 
earnestness and fervor; "who had been driven out of 
Prague by the interdict, yet whose blameless life shamed 
his persecutors. His eloquence was as effective in the 
open fields as in Bethlehem Chapel. Poor peasants and 
proud nobles gathered around him, in the forests and high- 
ways, to hear his forcible expositions and applications" of 
the Holy Scriptures. "From city to city, and from village 
to village, Huss pursued his mission. His hearers came in 
crowds from their homes, fields, and workshops. The im- 
pression made was in many cases deep and abiding ; years 
did not efface it." 

During this time also, he composed several of his most 
important works, and wrote many letters of counsel and 
encouragement to his friends He made his home for a 
time at the castle of Kozi-Hradek, and afterward found a 
hospitable refuge in the castle of Cracowec, both belonging 
to his firm friends. In the former place he wrote his most 
elaborate and systematic work, "On the Church." It is 
not necessary to enter at large into the contents of the 
writings which now proceeded from his pen. Many of his 
views were undoubtedly characterized by the errors of his 
education and of the times ; so that he saw as it were the 
truth by glimpses, mixed with much that we cannot now 
unite with ; but where he saw through the bigotry and cor- 
ruption of the papal system, which he did in some import- 
ant particulars, he was deeply concerned to be faithful to 
his convictions. He is said to have been quite as strong an 



132 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

advocate as Calvin for the doctrine of predestination; and 
he evidently believed in that of purgatory, though in a 
modified way, ceJling that condition "the sleeping church." 
Some of his views are thus compiled by Gillett fron*i the 
above-named work. 

" Christ is the sole supreme head of the church, the true 
pontifex, high-priest, and bishop of souls. The apostles 
did not call themselves heads of the church, but servants 
of Christ and of the church. Even Gregory would not 

allow himself to be called universal bishop But 

in truth the pope is no more a successor of Peter than the 
cardinals are successors of the apostles. He is only to be 
considered as Christ's and Peter's successor and vicar, 
when he resembles Peter in faith, humanity, and love ; and 
cardinals are successors of the apostles only when they 
emulate their virtues and devotion. But this same might 
be said of others who have never been popes or cardinals. 

If, instead of fulfilling their caUing, and having 

Christ's example before them, they rather strive for worldly 
things, splendor, and pomp, and excite avarice and envy in 
believers, then are they successors, not of Christ, of Peter, 
or of the apostles, but of Satan, Antichrist, Judas Iscariot. 

" It cannot therefore be said that the pope, as such, is the 
head of the church. The pope can know no more than 
any other man, in regard to himself with absolute cer- 
tainty, whether he can be saved The popedom is 

not essential to the well-being and edification of the church." 

"In the early church there were but two grades 

of office, deacon and presbyter ; all beside are of later 
and human invention. But God can bring back his church 
to the old pattern, just as the apostles and true priests 
took oversight of the church in all matters essential to 
its well-being, before the office of pope was introduced. 
So it may be again." "As of the pope and car- 



JOHN HUSS. 133 

dinals, SO of the prelates and clergy. There is a clergy of 
Christ, and a clergy of antichrist. The former is built on 
Christ and his laws, labors constantly for the glory of God, 
and seeks simply to follow Christ. The latter, though 
wearing the robes of Christ's clergy, rests upon privileges 
savoring of pride and avarice, finds itself obliged to defend 
human ordinances, strives after a proud splendid equipage." 

"Faithful Christians keeping the commandments 

are the magnates of the church; but prelates who break 
them are least, and if reprobates, have no part in the king- 
dom of God." 

"Every true Christian, when a command issues to him 
from the pope, must deliberate whence it originates — 
whether it is an apostolic ordinance and a law of Christ, or 
mediately such ; and he is then to regard and honor it. 
But if the opposite is the case, he must not honor, but 
rather firmly oppose it, and not by subjection incur guilt. 
Opposition in such a case, is true obedience." 

" The power of the keys, that is, the power to receive the 
worthy, and reject the unworthy, belongs to God alone, who 
ordains salvation, or foreknows perdition. The priest lias no 
power to release from guilt and eternal punishment. The 
pope even has not this power — it belongs to God only. 
The priest has only the churchly office of declaring, not of 
binding or loosing, unless this is already done by God. 
The absolution must follow the grace of God and the sin- 
ner's repentance. Intellectual knowledge is not essential 
to the soul's salvation, but true contrition and confession 
of the heart." 

During the year 1414 Huss occasionally reappeared in 
Prague, and the active opposition to him seemed some- 
what suspended. The cause of reform, and views more 
and more evangelical, seemed to be steadily advancing. 
"Huss no longer," says Gillett, "approved of the worship 

t 



134 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

of the wooden cross. He condemned the adoration paid 
to the pictures of the saints." 

The " evangelical party " seemed to be gaining the ascend- 
anc}^ Bohemia appeared in danger of being lost to the 
Romish church. Something must be done. The univer- 
sity was already lost. ''Help, if any was to be found, 
must come from abroad. There was a conviction becom- 
ing deeper and more general on every side among the 
papal party, that Huss could only be managed, and his 
heresy restrained, by a G-eneral Council. This was a ques- 
tion not only agitated in Bohemia, but all over Europe. 
There were many reasons which conspired to urge its convo- 
cation. The scandalous condition of Christendom, divided 
in allegiance to three rival pontiffs, was a problem which, 
by general consent, demanded the assembled wisdom of the 
church for its solution. There was, moreover, on all sides, 
a loud demand for ecclesiastical reform. How could meas- 
ures which had this for their object be initiated, except by 
the action of a General Council ?"* 

The Emperor Sigismund had other and strong reasons 
for desiring a Council; and the pope, John XXIII., re- 
luctantly agreed to it, and the city of Constance was fixed 
upon as the location. John Huss was cited to appear be- 
fore the Council, and answer such charges as might be 
brought against him ; and so confident was he iri the justice 
of his cause, that he only asked the privilege of a free audi- 
ence before the assembly. 

" Nor was he without encouragement in the affection of 
his fellow-citizens From the time when, on the with- 
drawal of the Germans, he had been elevated to the rector- 
ship of the university, the sympathy of the nation had ral- 
lied to his side. A large number of the educated men of 
the country had been brought under his influence, — while 

* Gillett's Life of Huss. 



JOHN HUSS. 135 

the patriotic feeling, both of the nobility and of the com- 
mon people, was strongly enlisted in his support." 

He believed he was required by the Almighty to main- 
tain the position which he had taken. In one of his letters 
written during his absence from Prague, he holds the fol- 
lowing language: " What to me are riches, honors, or dis- 
grace ? My sins alone grieve me. What if the just man 
lose his life ? It is only to find the true life. God will yet 
destroy antichrist. Be prepared for the conflict. Woe is 
me, if I do not expose the abomination of desolation by 
preaching, teaching, and writing." And in another letter, 
he says : " I count it all joy that I am called a heretic, and 
excommunicated as disobedient. With Peter and John, it 
is better to obey God than man." 

Before quitting Prague for Constance, Huss took occa- 
sion to make a full declaration of his doctrinal views ; a 
safe conduct was granted him by the emperor ; and two 
knights, John de Chlum and Wenceslaus Duba, were 
appointed by the King of Bohemia to accompany and 
protect him on the journey. Gillett says : " In the month 
of October, 1414, Huss bade adieu to his chapel, where his 
voice was never more to be heard, and to his faithful 
friends and disciples, some of whom were to follow him 
in his path of suffering, self-denial, and martyrdom. He 
left behind him his faithful companion and bosom friend, 
Jerome, and the scene of parting was one of deep emo- 
tion. 'Dear master,' said Jerome, 'be firm; maintain in- 
trepidly what thou hast written and preached against the 
pride, avarice, and other vices of the churchmen, with 
arguments drawn from the Holy Scriptures. Should this 
task become too sevei-e for thee, — should I learn that thou 
hast fallen into any peril, — I shall fly at once to thy assist- 
ance.'" 

He went with a full hope that he would have free lib- 



136 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

erty to state and explain his views before the Council, and 
to show their accordance with the Scriptures. In this he 
was to be sorely disappointed. He had not properly real- 
ized the determination of his enemies to compass his de- 
struction, nor the tricks and management that unprinci- 
pled ecclesiastics were capable of bringing to bear, in 
order to accomplish their purposes. 

Before setting out (or, as Zitte says, from Krakowicz, a 
short distance from Prague), he addressed a letter to the 
priest Martin, one of his disciples, in which he spoke of 
himself with great humility, accusing himself of faults 
which many would deem trifling — of having felt pleasure 
in wearing rich apparel, and wasted precious hours in 
frivolous occupations — and adding the following exhort- 
ation: " May the glory of God and the salvation of souls 
occupy thy mind, and not the possession of benefices and 
estates. Beware of adorning thy house more than thy 
soul ; and above all, give thy care to the spiritual edifice. 
Be pious and humble with the poor ; and consume not thy 
substance with feasting. Shouldst thou not amend thy 
life, and refrain from superfluities, I fear thou wilt be 
severely chastised, as I am mj^self — I, who also made use 
of such things, led away by custom, and troubled by a 
spirit of pride. — I conjure thee by the mercy of our Lord, 
not to imitate me in any of the vanities into which thou 
hast seen me fall." 

He experienced great kindness from the people in vari- 
ous places where he rested during his journey. On his 
arrival at Constance he found the city completely thronged 
with strangers. "From every direction," says Gillett, 
"crowds were thronging to the famous Council. Multi- 
tudes had already arrived, and more were on their way. 
The buildings were insufficient to accommodate the im- 
mense concourse. Booths and wooden buildings were 



JOHN HUSS. 137 

erected outside the walls, and thousands of pilgrims were 
encamped in the adjoining countr}^ The whole neighbor- 
hood presented a curious and novel scene. All classes of 
society, laity as well as clergy, — representatives of every 
nation, with their peculiarities of costume and manner — 
the soldier in his armor, the prince followed by his escort, 
the prelate in his robes, the magistrate with his symbols 
of authority, servants hastening on errands, thousands 
providing for the food and entertainment of those who had 
gathered for the Council, — all contributed to make Con- 
stance a miniature Christendom ! To consult the various 
tastes of the immense crowd of strangers, there were 
shows and amusements of all kinds, dramatic entertain- 
ments and representations of every description, varied 
with the solemn or gaudy pomp of religious proceedings.* 

Who that walked these crowded streets, or gazed 

upon the princely robes, the rich and costly attire spark- 
ling with jewels and shining with gold, the waving plumes, 
the burnished armor, the embroidered standards, the splen- 
did equipage, the lengthened cavalcade, would have imag- 
ined that amid such scenes of worldly pomp and pageantry 
were to be sought, decisions and counsels inspired by the 
Holy Ghost, sentiments accordant with the Galilean fisher- 
men, or sympathy for the evangelical simplicity of the 
Bohemian reformer ?" 

The pope had arrived before them, and the next morn- 
ing Huss's companions visited the pontiff, to announce his 
arrival under a safe conduct from the emperor, and to re- 
quest to be informed by the pope whether he might remain 

* Zitte gives a copy of a manuscript in the library at Vienna, by which 
it would appear that among the vast throng collected on this occasion 
professing to consult the welfare of Christendom, there were "1500 
herumvagirende Nachtnimpfen!" (Lebensb. des J. Hus, vol. ii. p. 51.) — 
A sad commentary on the morals of this " miniature Christendom/' where, 
it has been said, 23,000 prelates, priests, and monks were assembled. 



138 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

ill Constance free fi'om the risk of violence. The pope re- 
plied : '' Had he killed my own brother, not a hair of his 
head should he touched while he remained in the city." 
The sequel will show how far this fair promise was to be 
fulfilled. For a few weeks Huss enjoyed tolerable liberty 
and quiet, being left unmolested at his lodgings in the 
humble dwelling of a poor widow. The excommunication 
was suspended, but he was cautioned to avoid any appear- 
ance at the public mass, or any occasion of scandal to the 
ecclesiastics. But his enemies soon followed him to Swit- 
zerland, and exposed placards in the public places, denounc- 
ing him as a heretic and an excommunicate. They set 
spies to watch him, and presently persuaded the cardinals 
in the city to summon him before them. Articles of accu- 
sation, some of them utterly false^^ were drawn up with 
malicious diligence, and the substance of them repeated 
wherever it was possible to excite prejudice. We are told* 
that two bishops, the Mayor of Constance, and a certain 
knight, carried the citation to Huss to appear before the 
pope and cardinals, in accordance, as they said, with his 
expressed desire to give an account of his doctrines. Huss 
replied with calmness, yet with firmness, " I did not come 
hither with the intention of pleading my cause before the 
pope and cardinals ; and I never desired any such thing ; 
but I wished to appear before the General Couiicil, in the 
presence of all, and there, openly and plainly reply, on 
every point proposed to me, according as God shall in- 
spire me for my defense. Yet I do not refuse to appear 
previously before the cardinals ; and if they act unfairly 
toward me, I shall put my trust in the Saviour Jesus 
Christ, and shall be more happy to die for his glory than 
live to deny the truth as taught in the Holy Scriptures." 
The bearers of the citation had taken the precaution to 

* Gillctt, vol. i. p. 343. 



JOHN HUSS. 139 

place soldiers near the house, to obviate any resistance on 
the part of Huss or his friends ; yet they conducted them- 
selves gently and respectfully toward him. Huss obeying 
the summons prepared to leave the house, and struck with 
a prospect of what awaited him, took a solemn and tender 
leave of his widowed hostess. Arriving at the bishop's 
palace, he was told by the cardinals that many very grave 
errors were imputed to him ; to which he replied that he 
would rather die than be convicted of any heresy, espe- 
cially of any of a very grave character as was expressed; 
that to this end he had cheerfully come to attend on the 
General Council, and if any could convince him of any 
error, he would unhesitatingly abjure it. The cardinals 
withdrew soon after, leaving him and his companion, John 
de Chlum, in custody 1 

Meantime his enemies appear to have sent a man in 
disguise, to converse with him apparently in a friendly 
manner, and endeavor to entrap him, or induce him to say 
something which might be reported to his disadvantage. 
But Huss and his friend suspected the snare, and avoided 
it. He afterward learned that the pretended ignorant 
monk was one of the most learned theologians in Lom- 
bardy. As night approached, the provost of the palace 
announced that Huss must remain in custodv, thouo-li his 
friend, John de Chlum, was at liberty to depart. The lat- 
ter, indignant at the base and perfidious detention of his 
friend, bitterly complained that a worthy and upright man 
had thus been lured into an infamous snare, and hastened 
to the pope to remonstrate with him on the violation of his 
promise. The pope coolly protested that he had to act 
according to the wishes of the cardinals and bishops. 

After remaining for eight days in charge of the Bishop 
of Constance, Huss was conveyed to the prison of the 
Dominican monastery on the banks of the Rhine. " His 



140 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

enemies," says Gillett, '' could scarcely have selected a place 
of confinement more nauseous and unhealthy. The monas- 
tery was situated near the spot where the Rhine issues 
from the Lake of Constance. Here he was thrown into an 
underground apartment, through which every sort of impu- 
rity was discharged into the lake. . . . The noxious stench 
and effluvia of the place were not long in producing their 
effect on the health of the prisoner. In a few hours 
Huss was thrown into a violent fever, which threatened 
his life." 

When Chlum went to remonstrate with some of the 
cardinals on the gross injustice of thus confining a man 
who had the emperor's safe- conduct, one of them alleged 
that the council could act as it pleased with such docu- 
ments ; another, that no faith need be kept with heretics ; 
and two others, learning the nature of his errand before- 
hand, closed their doors against him. The emperor had 
not yet arrived in Constance, but Chlum determined to 
write to him, requesting redress of the gross outrage. At 
first the emperor was indignant at this violation of his 
authority and promise, and dispatched an embassy at once 
to Constance to insist on the immediate release of Huss. 
Meantime the prisoner's physicians having insisted on his 
removal from his noisome underground cell, as essential to 
his life, he was removed to a more healthy apartment above 
ground. Here he was presented with a_ list of charges 
against him ; and on his asking, on account of his inability 
from imprisonment and sickness to defend himself, that he 
might have an advocate to assist him in his defense, his 
request was denied, and he was cruelly told that, accord- 
ing to canon law, no one could be allowed to plead the 
cause of a man suspected of heresy ! 

Every day some new accusation seemed to be devised, 
and the vexations and insults to which he was subjected. 



JOHN HUSS. 141 

and the artifices and intrigues employed to prevent bis 
having a hearing before the Council, we are told, "were 
enough to drive him to despondency. But, in spite of all, 
his trust in God and in the justice of his cause, remained 
unshaken ; and the writings which issued from his prison- 
cell attest his incessant activity." The order from the 
emperor for his release was not obeyed, but the strictness 
of his confinement was increased. The pope had a secret 
purpose to engage the attention of men's minds on the sup- 
posed heresy of Huss, in order to screen himself from the 
measures which he was well aware his own wickedness 
might bringdown upon himself, should the attention of the 
Council be turned toward the correction of hierarchical 
abuses or corruption. 

About the end of the year 1414, the Emperor Sigismund 
at length arrived in Constance, but from motives of policy 
he connived at the confinement of John Huss. During the' 
spring of 1415, Huss was removed to the Franciscan 
monastery, with the intent, it is supposed, of having him 
more an object of attention to the members of the Council. 
But the ijitrigues set on foot in that body for a time struck 
at the man who occupied the papal chair, instead of his 
prisoner ; and to such a pitch did the dissatisfaction with 
John XXIII. increase, that it culminated in a demand for 
his abdication, and he fled secretly from the city of Con- 
stance. The Council, however, continued its sittings as 
before ; and, at its eighth session, the writings of Wycliffe, 
which had previously been submitted to a commission of 
examination, were condemned as heretical, the decree add- 
ing, that the body and bones of the English reformer, if 
they could be found and distinguished, should be disin- 
terred, and cast out from sepulture ! 

The flight of the pope, with several of his adherents, 
threw the custody of Huss into the hands of the Emperor 

1* 



142 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

Sigismund. In a few days a scene occurred which may be 
best related in the words of his biographer Gillett : " The 
reformer's faithful friend, De Chlum, accompanied by other 
Bohemian nobles, waited on Sigismund in the hope of pro- 
curing his release. They pointed out to him the favorable 
occasion now afforded of delivering an innocent man from 
indescribable sufferings, while he would vindicate his own 
honor and that of the empire from the contempt to which 
they had been subjected. Sigismund listened in embar- 
rassed silence. He protested, not without confusion ex- 
cited by a sense of his own injustice, that the future destiny 
of the professor lay not in his hands, but in those of the 
four presidents of the several nations of the Council. All 
that he himself would consent to was, that the nobles 
might pay the invalid a short visit in the presence of wit- 
nesses. 

" Conducted by the emperor's attendants, the Bohemians 
proceeded to the Franciscan convent. There they found 
Huss, to outward view a pitiable object. He lay stretched 
on a miserable couch, emaciated, and wasted almost to a 
skeleton. On the ground before him lay a small strip of 
paper. They picked it up, and though the writing upon it 
was scarce legible, it told the story of neglect which would 
soon have saved the stake a victim : ' If you still love me, 
entreat the emperor to allow his people to provide for me, 
or else enable me to find sustenance for myself!' Such 
were the words they read. 

''Huss had formerly been scantily supplied from the 
pope's kitchen ; but since his flight, had been entirely over- 
looked. For three days the weak, enfeebled prisoner had 
been without food. Meekly and uncomplainingly did he 
endure what God had seen fit to suffer wicked men to 
inflict upon him. At the melancholy sight, the bearded 
warriors were melted into tears, but their resentment was 



JOHN HUSS. 143 

roused. With uplifted hands and eloquent eyes, they be- 
sought Heaven to give them, at some future period, an 
opportunity of avenging with their swords such inhuman 

cruelty and injustice The meeting of Huss and his 

friends, says the chronicle, was very melancholy, and the 
parting was still more sad. For they loved Huss as their 
father, and their hearts vrere full of gloomy forebodings. 
Wlien the sufferer had received the last embrace of his 
countrymen, he sank back fainting on his chains. 

"The next day he was given over by the emperor and 
the Council to the rigid custody of the Bishop of Con- 
stance. By order of the latter, he was conveyed by water 
to the castle of Gottlieben. Armed men accompanied the 
prisoner till they reached the spot, on the banks of the 
Rhine, three miles distant from Constance. He was thrown 
into the tower, and treated with a severity which would have 
been harshness even to the greatest criminal. Irons were 
fastened to his feet, and during the day he might move the 
length of his chain ; but at night he was chained by his 
arms to the wall. With such inhuman cruelty — enough 
to crush the boldest, spirit — Huss was to be prepared to 
stand up alone against a host of enemies that thirsted for 
his blood. Undoubtedly there were men among them who 
would deliberately prefer to browbeat an invalid, or argue 
with one too-weak to defend his own cause, than contend 
with the living vigorous energ}^ of thought and action that 
had electrified a whole kingdom." 

During the spring an attack was made in the Council on 
Huss's ardent and faithful friend, Jerome of Prague, then 
in that city. This generous and impulsive man, possessed 
of much less coolness and prudence than Joha Huss, 
hearing of the imprisonment and danger of his venerated 
teacher, had determined to proceed to Constance and exert 
his endeavors for his relief or defense. He was probably 



144 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

at that time unaware that two citations had already issued 
from the Council, at the instigation of that notoriously bad 
man, Michael de Causis, for his own appearance to defend 
himself Ijefore that body. The Bohemians in Constance, 
on his arrival in that city, urged the risk of his stayiug 
there, and the impossibility of his being of any service to 
his suffering friend. Jerome, however, seems by some 
means to have found admittance to Huss's prison ; but 
when he saw his dismal condition, and the chains about 
his limbs, and found the harsh treatment to which he was 
subjected, and the still more cruel prospect which, in all 
probability, awaited him, he was seized with a sort of 
panic, and took to flight with great precipitancy. It was 
soon found that he had been in the city, and had left it ; 
but he contrived, by the help of some of his countrymen, 
to reach the free city of Uberlingen, where he deemed him- 
self more secure. Here he was, on reflection, struck with 
shame at the thought of fleeing without having really at- 
tempted anything for the safety of his friend. He wrote 
therefore both to the emperor and the Council, requesting a 
safe-conduct for himself, in order that he might appear at 
Constance and justify himself and Huss from all calumni- 
ous charges. The emperor coldly refused the request. The 
Council replied that they would grant him a safe- conduct, 
but that "they had nothing more at heart than to catch the 
foxes which were ravaging the vineyard of the Lord;" and 
warned him also that the safe-conduct should be ''except- 
ing always the claims of the law, and that the orthodox 
faith does not in any way prevent it" — a pretty clear inti- 
mation of what it was worth, and what were their real in- 
tentions.. Seeing no hope of doing anything effective, or of 
even safety for himself, he commenced his journey back to 
Prague, bearing with him a testimony from seventy Bohe- 
mian nobles, then in Constance, of his having done all in 



JOHN HUSS. 145 

his power to render reasons for his faith, and of his having 
departed only because he could not safely remain. 

Jerome reached the village of Hirschau, in the Black 
Forest; but here his natural rashness was the means of 
his being taken into custody. Being in a company of 
priests, and the conversation turning on the transactions of 
the Council, his indignation got the better of his discretion, 
and he launched forth invectives which soon excited the 
suspicions of his hearers that he was a heretic. Hearing 
him style that grand assembly *'a synagogue of iniquity," 
they went and informed the officer in command of the place, 
and Jerome was at once arrested, cast into prison, and 
bound with chains. He was soon afterward conveyed to 
Constance, chained to a cart, his heavy irons clanking upon 
his limbs; and on his arrival, the Duke of Bavaria, sur- 
rounded by a mob as brutal as himself, undertook to pull 
and drag him about by his chains, and led him through the 
city as if he had been some wild beast. He was taken to 
the convent of the Minorites, and examined by the priests 
assembled for the purpose, in the midst of much agitation 
and noise. Gillett says that "a multitude of persons vol- 
unteered to give evidence against him. He had visited all 
the universities of Europe, and the fame of his eloquence, 
if not the vanquishing force of his arguments, had excited 
the jealousy and envy of many who were here present." 
As might be expected, there was a great clamor against 
him, and many frivolous and empty charges were brought. 
He replied that if he had taught erroneously, he desired to 
be instructed in what respect it was erroneous, and he 
would be corrected with all humility ; and requested them to 
specify any error distinctly. A murmur soon arose among 
them, "Let him be burned, let him be burned!" To which 
he said: "If it be- your pleasure that I should die, in the 
name of God be it so." The Bishop of Saltzburg was the 



146 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

only one to show the least feeling of compassion, reminding 
the assembly that it was written, that the Lord "willeth 
not the death of the sinner, but that he should turn and 
live." But the clamor was such that his appeal was of no 
avail. Jerome was remanded to prison, bound, and placed 
in charge of the Archbishop of Riga. This professed min- 
ister of Him who is boundless in goodness and mercy had 
Jerome removed to the dungeon of a tower in a certain 
cemetery, ordering him to be heavily ironed. " His chains 
were riveted to a lofty beam in such a way as to prevent 
his sitting down, while his arms v/ere forced by fetters to 
cross on his neck behind, compelling him to incline his 
head forward and downward. For two days he was kept 
in this posture, his only food being bread and w^ater.* At 
length a friend of his found out his distressed circumstances, 
through one of his keepers, and obtained for him the in- 
dulgence of better food. His health giving way under his 
grievous restraint, some of his irons w^ere, after a time, 
taken off ; but he was kept in prison for a w^hole year be- 
fore he was subjected to the penalty of the flames. 

Soon after Jerome's arrest, the Bohemians in Constance 
appealed to the Council in behalf of Huss and of his threat- 
ened disciples at Prague. They spoke of him as an inno- 
cent man, insisting that he should be liberated, or, at least, 
that his restraint should be alleviated, and that he should 
be allowed a public audience, especially as he had been 
confined in violation of his safe-conduct. His enemies in 
the Council parried all arguments in his favor either by 
further false charges or by evasions and clamor, and no- 
thing was effected for his relief. The Council was busy 
deposing Pope John XXIIL, whose iniquities were too 
scandalous to allow him to be screened from pubHc reproba- 
tion. This was at length, after many intrigues on his part, 

••■• Gillett's Life of John Huss. 



JOHN HUSS. 147 

accomplished, and the ex-pontiff was actually imprisoned 
in the same building which contained his own former pris- 
oner, the Bohemian reformer. This, however, did nothing 
for Huss's safety ; for the Emperor Sigismund, for political 
purposes, had turned against him, and his enemies there- 
fore had entire control in the Council. 

But after the pope was disposed of, and some measures 
taken toward ordering the election of another, the Council 
had to listen to another remonstrance from the Bohemian 
nobles, demanding an alleviation of Huss's cruel constraint 
in irons, and a public audience for his defense. They re- 
luctantly consented to the latter, and fixed a day for his 
appearance before them. A commission was appointed to 
draw up the charges against him, who visited him in his 
prison a few days before the time appointed, endeavoring 
to ensnare him by insidious questions, or to shake his con- 
stancy by insults and threats. But he was cautious and 
firm, and gave them no advantage, while he distinctly let 
them know that he did not wish to maintain anything ob- 
stinately, but was willing to receive instruction from any 
one. 

They had drawn up thirty articles against him, and 
urged him then and there to answer in regard to them. 
But he preferred to defer his answers till he should come 
before the Council. In one of his letters to his friends, 
describing the occasion, Huss says: "Michael de Causis 
stood by, with a paper in his hand, urging the patriarch to 
use force to make me reply to his questions. The bishops 
then came in and interrogated in their turn.^ — God has per- 
mitted Causis and Paletz to rise up against me for my sins. 
The one examined and remarked on all my letters, and the 
other brought up conversations that had taken place be- 
tween us man}^ years back. — The patriarch would insist on 
it that I was exceedingly rich, and an archbishop even 



148 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

named the very sum, namely, 1 0,000 florins. — Oh, certainly 
my sufferings to day were great! One of the bishops said 
to me, 'You have established a new law;' and another, 
'You have preached up all these articles.' My answer 
simply w^as, * Why do you overwhelm me with outrage?' " 

We are told by Gillett, " It was on the fifth of June, 
1415, that Huss was removed from the prison at Gottlieben, 
where he had remained for more than two months, and 
brought to Constance. But even here he was not per- 
mitted to meet his friend, Jerome. The latter was confined 
in the tower of St. Paul's Cemetery, while the former was 
placed in the monastery of the Franciscans, where he was 
to remain, for the greater part of the time loaded with 
irons, till the hour [day] of his martyrdom." 

Several hours previous to his arrival before the Council, 
they were occupied in forAvarding measures looking to his 
condemnation. The emperor on being informed of this 
became indignant at such flagrant injustice, and sent to the 
Council to enjoin it upon them not to determine the case, 
until they had heard Huss with calmness and impartiality. 
Huss was accordingly at length produced before them, and 
on some of his books being presented to his notice, he ac- 
knowledged that they were his, and promised " that he 
would rectify, with the most hearty good-will, any error or 
mistaken proposition which any man among' them would 
point out." The reading of the articles then commenced ; 
but as soon as Huss undertook to reply, such a clamor and 
disturbance arose through the whole assembly, that he 
could by no means be heard. This disturbance went on 
as they proceeded from article to article ; so that one who 
was present has testified that the proceedings were charac- 
terized rather by the ferocity of wild beasts, than by the 
serious deportment of Christian teachers assembled to de- 
cide one of the gravest questions. At length, during a lull. 



JOHN HTJSS. 149 

Huss was heard appealing to the Holy Scriptures. This 
produced another outbreak of invective and derision. Tliej 
laughed him to scorn, and any attempt to make himself 
heard and listened to, was perfectly futile. Some there 
seemed to be struck with a degree of sympathy for the 
prisoner, so beset by determined enemies, but their voices 
were smothered in the general uproar. It was like a mob. 
No order was preserved. The members were crying out 
against Huss, and interrupting each other at the top of 
their voices. The prisoner at one brief interval remarked : 
"I supposed that there had been more fairness, kindness, 
and order in the Council." Even for this he was rebuked. 
When he asked to be instructed in what respect he had 
erred, the presiding cardinal replied, "As you ask to be in- 
formed, you must first recant your doctrine !" 

As the disturbance continued, Huss gazed over the dis- 
graceful scene, and was impelled to express his surprise : 
" I anticipated a different reception, and had imagined that 
I should obtain a hearing. I am unable to make myself 
audible over so great a noise, and I am silent because I 
am forced to it. I would willingly speak were I listened 
to." The more moderate members were disgusted with the 
disorder, and urged an adjournment for two days, which 
was acceded to. Meantime, on the day adjourned to, there 
was an almost total eclipse of the sun ; and so awe-struck 
were these guilty ecclesiastics, that they did not assemble 
till about one o'clock, when the ecUpse had passed away. 
Sigismuud attended the adjourned sitting, having been re- 
quested by the Bohemian nobles to be present, in the hope 
that by that means some decent order might be maintained. 
Huss was led in, loaded with chains, and attended by a 
body of soldiers. He was placed directly in front of that 
monarch who had given him a safe-conduct, but whose 
word had been thus trampled on by others, and the out- 



150 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

rage connived at by himself. He may now have encour- 
aged a hope of saving the prisoner's life, by restraining the 
violence of his enemies ; yet he was giving way, little by 
little, to those who were presently to prove too strong a 
current for him to resist. 

The views of Huss were sought to be identified with 
those of Wycliife, the more readily to bring about his con- 
demnation ; though he had never sanctioned all the doctrines 
of the English reformer, and indeed in several respects did 
not go so far. The Cardinal of Cambray dishonorably 
strove to entangle him in a scholastic dispute on a question 
of the idle and fantastical philosophy to which he was ac- 
customed in the University of Paris ; but Huss warily gave 
him such a reply as left his adversaries no advantage. 
Several false charges were brought against him, some of 
which he plainly asserted were groundless, and others he 
showed from his books to be falsified quotations, or perver- 
sions of his meaning. Some of the articles which were 
brought forward as heretical, he maintained to be sound 
doctrine according to Holy Scripture. One priest charged 
him with having said '' that St. Gregory was a jester, or a 
wag ;" w^hich he firmly denied, complaining of the injustice 
done him, as he had ever very highly esteemed Gregory. 
But the Cardinal of Florence alleged that they had twenty 
men to testify to the truth of it; though it does not appear 
that his witnesses were brought forward. This man spoke 
to Huss in such a manner as to show that he meant to 
intimidate him to a recantation. But Huss replied, ''I call 
God and my own conscience to witness, that 1 never have 
taught, or even thought of teaching, as these men have 
dared to testify in regard to what they never heard. 
And even though there were many more arrayed against 
me, I make more account of the witness of tlie Lord 
my God, and of my own conscience, than I do of the 



JOHN HUSS. 151 

judgments of all my adversaries, which I regard as 
nothing." 

At one time, Huss having spoken of appealing "to 
Christ, the sovereign judge," he Avas asked whether it was 
lawful for him, not having received absolution from the 
Roman pontiff, to appeal to Christ. And, on his seriously 
and earnestly maintaining that no appeal could be more 
just than to implore the aid of Christ, the judge over all, 
and the ready helper of the afflicted and oppressed, he was 
met by a shower of jeers and mockery from the whole 
Council. * And again, on his stating the falsity of a certain 
charge in regard to Wycliffe, but adding that "he would 
that his soul might be where John Wycliffe was," this 
was a signal for another outburst of jeers and derision 
against their helpless prisoner. 

Whei;! several charges were disproved, his enemy Paletz 
seized an opportunity to say, "Yes, most reverend fathers, 
not only men of other nations, but of Bohemia itself, have 
been driven out by John Huss and his counsels, some of 
whom are yet in exile in Moravia." " How," asked Huss 
— astonished at such a falsehood — "how can this be true, 
since I was not once at Prague at the time w^hen those 
men you speak of were sent away?" Their banishment 
had in fact occurred after his withdrawal from the city. 
He was repeatedly charged with obstinacy, and the em- 
peror, after a while, advised him to submit to the judgment 
of the Council, rather than run the extreme hazard w^hich 
otherwise awaited him. Huss respectfully replied, calling 
the Almighty to w^itness, that he had never cherished any- 
thing like obstinacy or stubbornness, and that he came 
among them with this intent, that if any one could give 
him better instruction, he would unhesitatingly thange his 

*" " Die heiligen VUtor brachen dariiber bios iu ein lautes Hohngelachter 
aus," says Zitte (vol. ii. p. 113). 



152 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

views. The soldiers then took him back to his quarters, 
and the Council adjourned. 

The next day, at his third audience, much the same con- 
duct was pursued toward him. Thirty-nine articles, pro- 
fessedly taken from his writings, were read. Those which 
had been fairly taken, he acknowledged ; but others had 
been drawn up by Paletz in such a manner, that he would 
not acknowledge any responsibility for them. He was, 
besides, reproached with several things which he showed 
clearly to be falsehoods, and he replied to all the articles in 
a firm but calm and dignified manner. To those articles 
which had been shown to him beforehand, and of which he 
had a transcript, he replied in writing ; but many things 
were charged against him verbally, any member of the 
Council thinking himself at liberty to interrupt and brow- 
beat the prisoner, by allegations of what he professed to 
know, without adducing any proof; and the Cardinal of 
Cambray repeatedly declared that Huss's writings con- 
tained many things that were " still more detestable and 
atrocious" than what the articles contained. A great deal 
of sophistry, and still more of puerile reasoning, if reason- 
ing it could be called, was thrown out against him. Some 
of the charges, if faults in Huss, were equally against the 
late transactions of the Council in deposing the pope ; and 
Huss took occasion to let them see that if they condemned 
what he had said, they condemned their own position. But 
such things were generally passed over as slightly as pos- 
sible, to save their own authority. When they could not 
reply to what he said, as for instance, when he reminded 
them that at one time the Romish church, having elected a 
woman, Agnes, to be pope, was in fact without a real earthly 
head for nearly two years and a half, and that it was quite 
as well governed during that time by its heavenly head, 
Christ Jesus, and added that in the times of the apostles 



JOHN HUSS. 153 

the church was infinitely better ruled than it was now ; and 
that at present they had no earthly head at all, but yet 
Christ did not fail to rule his church ; the Council could 
not undertake to refute what he said, but treated it with 
sneers and derision. 

When all the charges had been gone through, a discus- 
sion arose in regard to the steps to be taken with the pris- 
oner. At length they concluded that, "in the first place, 
Huss was to confess that he had erred ; secondly, he was 
to promise that he would never teach again the same doc- 
trines ; and thirdly, he should recant the articles charged 
against him.'' The Cardinal of Cambray then addressed 
him. " You have heard," said he, " of how many atrocious 
crimes you are accused. It is your duty now to consider 
what course you will take." And he went on to exhort 
him to submit to the judgment of the Council. Others 
also urged him to submission. Huss reminded them of 
what he had already told them, that he came not in stub- 
bornness, but with an entire willingness to submit to be 
instructed, if his views were in any point incorrect ; and he 
therefore asked that he might have a further opportunity of 
defending the correctness of his views and course ; and 
then if he did not bring plain and sufficient proof, he would 
readily submit to their direction. On this, some one shouted 
at the top of his voice, " Notice the sophistry of his words. 
He says 'direction,' not correction or decitiion.^^ ''Yes,'- 
replied Huss, "as you wish it — direction, correction, or de- 
cision ; I protest before Grod that I spoke in all sincerity of 
mind." 

Cambray and several others now again urged him to 
recant. But he replied, "Again I say that I am ready to 
be instructed and set right by the Council. But in the 
name of Him who is the God of us all, I ask and beseech of 
you this one thing, that I may not be forced to that which, 



154 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

my conscience being repugnant to it, I cannot do under 
peril of the loss of my soul — ^i^ecant, by oath, all the articles 
against me." He went on to say that to recant or abjure 
was to renounce an error previously held, and that many 
of these things charged against him he had never held ; 
but in regard to such as were indeed his own, if he could 
be instructed that he was in error, he would readily yield. 
The emperor attempted to persuade him that he might 
properly renounce all errors whatever, without its neces- 
sarily following that he had held errors. Huss meekly 
answered him, " Most merciful emperor, the word has a 
very different signification from that in which your majesty 
has used it." . Sigismund then plainly intimated to the 
prisoner the danger he incurred by persisting in his refusal 
to recant. But Huss continued to request to be heard 
further. After much altercation, and many attempts again 
to ensnare and intimidate their almost exhausted victim, 
the day drawing to a close, further proceedings were de- 
ferred till the day following, and Huss w^as again led to his 
prison. After the adjournment, the emperor expressed to 
some of the prominent members his view that the charges 
against Huss were such, that "each of them was deserving 
of death by fire:" yet if he would consent to banishment 
and silence, and this could be effectually accomplished so 
as to insure the destruction of the heresy now afloat by his 
means, he thought it ought to be done. 

About a month was now passed by Huss in prison at 
Constance, awaiting the conclusion of his judges. During 
that time he was preparing his mind for the result which 
he deemed almost inevitable, though the delay at times 
seemed calculated to inspire some hope that his life might 
yet be spared. He was during this month constantly urged 
by various people, and even by a deputation from the 
Council at one time, and from the emperor at another, to 



JOHN HUSS. 155 

submit to the judgment of the assembly, and abjure the 
errors imputed to him. He still felt that he could not with 
a clear conscience renounce or recant doctrines which he 
had never held, nor disavow those, of the error of which 
he was not convinced. The Cardinal of Florence, Zaba- 
rella, who was inclined to moderation, was really anxious 
to save his life, and is said to have prepared a form of 
recantation which it was thought by some of his friends he 
might safely subscribe, as it was as little as could be ex- 
pected by any who desired the infallibility of the Coun- 
cil's judgment to be maintained by the submission of the 
prisoner. But Huss looked at it with the feelings of one 
to whom clearness of conscience was of far more value 
than personal safety. He saw that to adopt it would be 
a compromise of principle. He expressed his gratitude for 
the kind feeling which had prompted the suggestion, but 
calmly informed them that he dared not submit in the w^ay 
proposed, for he must needs thereby condemn many truths, 
and perjure himself by confessing that he had held errors, 
thus occasioning scandal to the people of God who had 
heard his preaching. 

He was perfectly beset by the repeated importunities of 
many who respected his character and talents, and desired 
that his life might be spared. But in his mind there ap- 
pears to have been no wavering. "I would sooner," he 
said in one of his letters to his friends, " have a millstone 
bound about my neck, and be cast into the sea, than 
give occasion of scandal to my neighbor; and having 
preached to others constancy and endurance, I will set 
them an example, looking for help to the grace of God." 
One of the doctors urged him to submission by this argu- 
ment : "Even though the Council should tell you that you 
have but one eye, when you have two, you would be bound 
to assent to their statement." But Huss replied, " While 



156 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

God spares my reason, I would never allow such a thing, 
though the whole world were agreed upon it, because I 
could not say it without wounding my conscience." 

In another letter, in speaking of his conviction that he 
should thereby " commit perjury and give offense to many 
of God's children," he says : " Far be it, far be it from me I 
For my Master, Christ, shall be hereafter my reward, 
while even now he gives me the aid of his presence." 
He wrote many letters during this brief month of respite, 
encouraging his friends at home to faithfulness, and giving 
them parting admonitions. In these letters his humility is 
often conspicuous, as well as his Christian firmness. In 
several he warns them not to be misled by anything in him 
that may have been wrong. He confesses that he had in 
time past done wrong in playing at chess, and in indulging 
in dress. And in one letter he says, among many affec- 
tionate and earnest exhortations: "I beseech, moreover, if 
any one has observed any levity in my speech or conduct, 
that he copy not my example, but intercede with God in 
my behalf that such levity may be forgiven me." It is an 
epistle of some length, towaid the conclusion of which he 
thus alludes to the approaching event: " This letter have I 
written to you in prison and in chains ; and this morning I 
have heard of the decision of the Council, that I must be 
burned. But I have full confidence in God that he will not 
forsake me, nor permit me to deny his truth, or with per- 
jury confess as mine the errors falsely imputed to me by 
lying witnesses. But how gently God my Master deals 
with me, and supports me through surprising conflicts, ye 
shall learn, when, amid the joys of the life to come, we 
shall, through the grace of Christ, behold one another 
again." 

In still another letter to his friends at home, he thus ex- 
presses the grounds of his comfort and confidence : " That 



JOHN HUSS. 151 

word of our Saviour much consoles me, ' Blessed be ye 
when men shall hate you. Rejoice ye in that day, and 
leap for joy, for behold, great is your reward in heaven.' 
A good consolation — nay, the best consolation-^ difficult, 
however, if not to understand, yet perfectly to fulfill, to 
rejoice amid those suflerings. This rule James observes, 
who says, ' My beloved brethren, count it all joy when ye 
fall into divers temptations, knowing this, that the trial of 
your faith worketh patience.' Assuredly it is a hard thing 
to rejoice without perturbation, and in all these manifold 
temptations to find nothing but pure joy. Easy it is to 
say this, and to expound it, but hard to fulfill it in very 
deed. For even the most steadfast and patient warrior, 
who knew that he should rise on the third day — who by 
his death conquered his enemies and redeemed his chosen 
from perdition, was, after the last supper, troubled in 
spirit, and said, 'My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even 
unto death' — and he sweat, as it were, great drops of 
blood falling down to the ground. But he who was in 
such trouble said to his disciples, ' Let not your heart be 
troubled,' etc. Hence his soldiers, looking to him as their 
king and leader, endured great conflicts, went through fire 
and water, and were delivered. And they received from 
the Lord that crown of which James speaks, i. 12. That 
crown will God bestow on me and you, as I confidently 
hope, ye zealous combatants for the truth, with all who 
truly and perseveringly love our Lord Jesus Christ, who 
suffered for us, leaving behind an example that we should 
follow his steps. It was necessary that he should suffer, 
as he tells us himself; and we must suffer, that so the 
members may suffer with the Head; for so he says, 'Who- 
ever would follow me, let him take up his cross and follow 
me.' O, most faithful Christ, draw us weak ones after 
thee ; for we cannot follow thee if thou dost not draw us. 

8 



158 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

Give us a strong mind, that it may be prepared and ready. 
And if the flesh is weak, succor us beforehand by thy 
grace, and accompany us, for without thee we can do 
nothing ; and least of all, can we face a cruel death. Give 
us a ready and willing spirit, an undaunted heart, the right 
faith, a firm hope, and perfect love, that patiently and with 
joy we may for thy sake give up our life." 

Such were some of his last expressions to those who 
had shared his friendship and his conflicts at home. Here 
was no self-confidence, no boasting of his own attain- 
ments, but an evidence of humble trust and faith in divine 
help. 

His confinement continued very strict, and his treatment 
by the authorities is said to have even increased in harsh- 
ness. None of his friends were allowed to visit him, and 
the wives of his jailers, who had evinced a disposition to 
show him kindness, were prohibited from any such atten- 
tions. 

We are told by Gillett, that "an assembly was held on 
the first of July (1415) in the Franciscan monastery, and 
Huss was brought before it, and publicly urged to abjure. 
He now presented a paper, drawn up by his own hand, in 
which he once more stated the grounds of his refusal: 'I, 
John Huss, in hope, a priest of Jesus Christ, fearing to 
sin against God, and fearing to commit perjury, am not 
willing to abjure all and each of the articles which have 
been produced against me on false testimony. For, God 
being my witness, I have not preached, asserted, nor de- 
fended them as they have said that I have preached, de- 
fended, or asserted. Moreover, in regard to the extracted 
articles, if any of them implies anything false, I disavow 
and detest it. But through fear of sinning against the 
truth, and speaking against the views of holy men, I am 
unwilling to abjure any of them. And if it were possibl-e 



JOHN HUsS. 159 

for my voice now to reach the whole world, — as every false- 
hood and every sin which I have committed will be brought 
to light ill the day of judgment, — I would most cheerfully 
recall everything false or erroneous which I ever spoke or 
thought of speaking, and I would do it before the world. 
These things I say and write freely, and of my own ac- 
cord.' — Such a position as Huss had taken did not pay 
that homage to the infallibility of the Council which was 
considered essential. He was led back to prison." 

Four days afterward, the emperor, who appears to have 
had fears of the consequences of Huss's execution, partic- 
ularly in Bohemia, and was anxious to avert any danger 
of public disturbance in the heart of Europe, once more 
sent to inquire if he would not recant. The deputation 
consisted of the cardinals of Cambray and Florence, the 
patriarch of Antioch, six bishops, and a doctor of laws; 
accompanied by Huss's friends, Chlum and Duba; who 
probably eagerly seized this opportunity of once more 
seeing and conversing with a man whom they so truly 
esteemed, and whose case they so deeply commiserated. 
To the solicitations of the deputation Huss made the same 
answ^er he had done to all others, declaring with tears at 
the same time, in the presence of the Almighty, his readi- 
ness to be instructed if in anything he had taught error. 
Chlum encouraged him, if convinced of error, ^ to yield 
without hesitation ; but if in his conscience he felt himself 
innocent, to beware of leaving the path of duty and com- 
mitting perjury, through any apprehension of death. At 
last, "See," said the bishops, "how obstinately he perse- 
veres in his errors !" 

The day at length arrived when his faithfulness was to 
be put to the last test. "It was on the following day," 
says Gillett, "that Huss appeared for the last time before 
the Council, now in its fifteenth session. There was a full 



160 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

attendance The emperor himself was present," 

crowned and, seated on a magnificent throne, surrounded 
by the princes and ecclesiastical dignitaries of his empire, 
in all their splendor. ''An immense crowd had assembled 
from all quarters. .... The celebration of mass had already 
commenced when Huss arrived ; but lie was kept outside 
the door till the religious services were over, under the pre- 
tence that the holy mysteries would be profaned by the 
presence of so great a heretic. At length Huss was brought 

in He was required to take his stand in front of the 

platform, on a stool, so as to be visible to the whole Coun- 
cil. Here he fell upon his knees, and remained for some 
time engaged in prayer in a low tone." 

The Bishop of Lodi then ascended the pulpit, and ad- 
dressed the assembly with a long discourse calculated to 
prepare them for the scene which was to follow ; concluding 
by almost idolatrous adulation of the emperor, as elected 
by God, deputed in heaven before chosen on earth, endued 
by the Almighty with the wisdom of divine truth for the 
performance of so holy a work as destroying heresies, "and 
especially this obstinate heretic, by whose malign influence 
many regions have been infected with the pest of heresy;" 
blasphemously adding, '' From the mouths of babes and 
sucklings shall thy praises be long celebrated, as, the aven- 
ger of the Catholic faith, and the destroyer of its enemies." 
After this, silence was proclaimed in "the holy Council of 
Constance, lawfully assembled by the influence of the Holy 
Spirit;" and all language, murmuring, and noise "which 
may disturb this assembly convoked with the inspiration 
of God," was forbidden under penalty of excommunication 
and imprisonment. Such was the high assumption which 
this wicked assembly dared to arrogate ! 

After pronouncing condemnation on the doctrines of 
Wyclifife, the Council proceeded with reading thirty arti- 



JOHN HUSS. 161 

cles against Huss, some of which had not before been pub- 
licly read. Huss attempted to reply to some of them as 
they were read ; but was stopped by the Bishop of Cam- 
bray, who ordered him to be silent, and, when he answered, 
to reply to all at once. Huss reminded him, but in vain, 
that it would be out of his power to remember the whole 
list of accusations. When he again attempted to defend 
himself, the officers were ordered to seize him, and force 
him to be silent. Being unwilling that the assembled mul- 
titude should be induced to believe that he acquiesced in 
the truth of these charges, with a loud voice, and his hands 
lifted toward heaven, he exclaimed, ''In the name of Al- 
mighty God, I beseech you, deign to afford me an equitable 
hearing, that I may clear myself at least before those who 
surround me, and remove from their minds the suspicion 
of errors. Grant me this favor, and then do with me what 
you will." "Here he was again interrupted, and ordered 
to be silent ; at which he kneeled down, and commended 
his cause in prayer to God, the most righteous judge. " A 
great variety of charges were brought, in order to prove 
his heresy. One of them was, that he had given out that 
he was a "fourth person in the holy trinity !" "Give me 
the name," said he, "of the lying doctor who testifies thus 
against me." "But he was told by the bishop who i;ead the 
accusation, "There is no need of it." Huss solemnly as- 
serted its falsehood, denying that such a thing had ever 
been thought of by him. 

When they charged him with a contempt of the papal 
excommunication, he had to go into a relation of the cir- 
cumstances that had attended him for some time, and re- 
minded the Council that he had come thither freely, "rely- 
ing upon the public faith of the emperor, who is here 
present, assuring me that I should be safe from all violence, 
so that I might attest my innocence and give a reason of 



162 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

my faitli." As he spoke thus of the safe-conduct, he fixed 
his eyes steadily upon the emperor, and a deep blush at 
once mounted to the imperial brow. Sigisumnd felt the 
shame and meanness of which he had been guilty. 

After all the accusations had been gone through, one of 
the judges of the court made a statement, that Huss had 
repeatedly given out that he would submit to the judgment 
of the Council, but that he still persisted in his position, 
notwithstanding all the means of persuasion (not convince- 
ment) that could be made use of A long document was 
then read, referring to the already condemned writings of 
John Wycliffe, whom they style a man " of damnable 
memory," confirming the decree of the Council of Rome 
respecting them, and then charging John Huss with being 
a disciple of that ''heresiarch," and condemning his books 
to the flames wherever they could be found. After this 
paper was read, Huss said to his judges, " Who are ye, 
that ye can justly condemn my writings? For I always 
desired that they should be corrected by a better applica- 
tion and understanding of Christian truth; and this is still 
my wish. And yet, hitherto ye have not presented any 
solid arguments against them, nor have ye convicted of 
error a single word of my writings. Why, then, have ye 
been igipelled to destroy my books, whether rendered in 
the Bohemian or other language — those, moreover, which 
doubtless ye have never seen ? And, if ye were to see 
them, your ignorance of the Bohemian language would pre- 
vent your understanding them." After complaining of other 
injustice in the accusation, he knelt down in supplication, 
with his eyes upturned toward heaven. 

They then read the sentence condemning Huss himself. 
After asserting that the charges have been "made most 
clearly manifest," that he "has taught many things evil, 
scandalous, seditious, and dangerously heretical, and 



JOHN HUSS. 163 

preached the same through a loDg* course of years," it de- 
clares that "this most holy Council of Constance — the 
name of Christ being invoked — having only God before 
their eyes" — pronounces that the said Huss is a manifest 
heretic, has taught errors and heresies, etc., and treated 
with contempt the keys of the church, and has interposed 
his. appeal to the Lord Jesus Christ, laying down many 
positions false and scandalous in regard to the apostolic 
see, and that he is pertinacious and incorrigible ; where- 
fore they condemn him as a heretic, and decree that he be 
deposed and degraded from the priesthood " in the presence 
of this most holy synod." 

When the charge of obstinacy was read, Hass promptly 
denied it, saying: "This I do utterly deny. I have ever 
desired, and I still desire to be better instructed from 
Scripture ; and I solemnly declare that such is my zeal for 
the truth, that if, by a single word, I might confound the 
errors of all heretics, there is no danger that I would not 
face in order to do it." After the sentence was all read, he 
once more fell on his knees, and, in earnest and distinct 
tones, prayed for his enemies; while "scorn and derision 
were traced in the features of the members of the Council, 
and were uttered in their sneers."* 

The persons appointed now approached him to perform 
the ceremony of degradation. He was clothed in the 
usual priestly robes instead of his prison garments, and 
the mass cup placed in his hand. When thus clad, he was 
made to stand up on the platform to be seen by the people, 
to whom he now expressed a few solemn and clear words 
of exculpation, in order that they might not be misled. He 
was then made to descend from the platform, and was 
stripped of his priestly robes by the bishops. First they 
took from him the cup, saying, " 0, thou accursed Judas ! 

«- Gillett, vol. ii. p. 62. See also Zitte, vol. ii. p. 242. 



164 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

— behold we take from thee this chalice, in which the blood 
of Jesus Christ for the redemption of the world is offered." 
Huss exclaimed: "But I have all hope and confidence 
fixed in my God and Saviour, that he will never take from 
me the cup of salvation ; and I abide firm in my belief 
that, aided by his grace, I shall this day drink thereof in 
his kingdom!" What a heavenly foretaste he evidently 
experienced ! Well worth all the sufferings of the body 
that wicked men were about to inflict upon him. 

As they proceeded to strip him of the remaining symbols 
of the priestly office, accompanying the removal of each 
with an awful curse upon him, Huss said: "All these in- 
sults I can endure, undisturbed and calm, for the name and 
truth of Jesus Christ." 

The Council then, by declaration, delivered him over 
"to the secular arm," for execution under the civil author- 
ity. As they prepared to place upon his head the paper 
crown — a sort of tall pointed cap, conical at the bottom 
and three-sided upward, with frightful figures of demons 
painted on its sides, and the word heresiarch distinctly 
written in large characters — they said, " We devote thy soul 
to the devils of hell!" — "But I," replied the martyr, lifting 
his eyes to heaven, and reverently folding his hands, " I 
commend it to my most merciful Master, Jesus Christ." 
He looked at the hideous crown as they placed it on his 
head, and calmly said: "My Lord Jesus Christ, though 
innocent, deigned to bear to an ignominious death, for 
wretched me, a far rougher and weightier crown of thorns." 

He was then placed in the hands of the executioners, 
who were commanded to burn him, with his clothes, and 
all that belonged to him, "even to his knife and his purse, 
from which they were not to take so much as a single 
penny." He was led to the place of execution without his 
chains, accompanied by several officers, and escorted by 



JOHN HUSS. 1 65 

the princes, a body of eight hundred soldiers, and an im- 
mense multitude of people attracted by curiosity or pity. 
The procession went by the episcopal palace, apparently 
that their victim might have an opportunity of seeing his 
books consuming in the flames in front of that building. 

There was a pause as they approached the meadow out- 
side of the city, where the execution was to take place; 
and Huss kneeled down and prayed to the Almighty, using 
some of the psalmist's words in the thirtieth and fiftieth 
Psalms of the Yulgate, or thirty-first and fifty-first of the 
English version — the latter being the same psalm on which 
Savonarola, nearly a century afterward, wrote meditations 
in his prison a few days previous to his own martyrdom. 
After this he fervently exclaimed, "Into thy hands I com- 
mit my spirit — thou hast been the salvation thereof, God 
of Truth !"* Some among the crowd were struck with the 
evidence of his piety and devotion, and exclaimed, " What 
this man may have done before, we know not; but now, 
certainly, we hear him speak and pray in a godly and de- 
vout manner!" 

A man was now appointed to act as confessor, who de- 
sired him to renounce his errors ; but Huss once more de- 
clined, and requested the privilege of addressing the people 
in the Grerman language. Instead of granting this last and 
reasonable request, the Elector Palatine, who had charge 
of the execution, gave orders that he should be immediately 
committed to the flames. Huss then lifted up his voice 
again in prayer: '' O Lord Jesus, I would endure with 
humility, for thy gospel, this cruel death ; and I beseech 
thee, pardon all my enemies," etc. Obtaining permission 
to speak to his keepers, who had felt commiseration for 
him, and been aff'ected by his pious example, he thanked 

» Zitte, vol. ii. p. 250. 

8* 



166 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

them in German for their kind treatment while they had 
him in charge, adding, " Ye have shown yourselves not 
merely my keepers, but brethren most beloved. And be 
assured that I rest with firm faith upon my Saviour, in 
whose name I am content calmly to endure this sort of 
death, that I this day may go to reign with him." 

He was now fastened to the stake by seven wet cords, 
and an iron chain around his neck, with his hands bound 
behind his back. Two piles of fagots were placed about 
his bare feet, and bundles of straw were put round the 
stake, reaching upward as high as his neck. When every- 
thing was thus made ready, the emperor sent once more to 
make a final effort to induce his prisoner to evade death by 
recantation. The marshal of the empire brought the mes- 
sage to him ; but Huss replied to it as he had done to all 
others, with a loud, clear voice, calling the Almighty to 
witness his innocency of the falsehoods charged against 
him, and his willingness to seal by his death the truth of 
what he had taught. The flames were then kindled; and, 
amid the smoke and blaze, Huss was once more heard en- 
gaged in prayer. Twice the words were heard, '' Christ, 
thou Son of the living God, have mercy upon me !" And 
again he was heard indistinctly, and at length bowed his 
head in the flames, and all was silent. The spirit had fled. 
The executioners barbarously struck and pushed thecharred 
remains of the martyr, crushing his skull with a club, and 
utterly consuming everything to ashes. These were then 
carefully collected and carted away, to be thrown into the 
Rhine. Huss had that very "day completed the forty-second 
year of his age.* 

The biographer whom we have so often quoted in the 
dchneation of his life, says of him : " The character of John 
Huss is one that the most virulent calumny has scarce 

* Zitte, vol. ii. p. 258. 



JOHN HUSS. 16 1 

dared to touch. The pimty of his life, the simplicity of his 
manners, his love of truth, his deep conscientiousness, his 
aversion to all assumption or display, his strong sympathy 
for the poor and ignorant, his readiness to obey each 
prompting of duty though it might carry him to the prison 
or the stake, are plainly legible in the whole story of his 
life. He has no false pride that forbids him to retract an 
error, or reject a truth. He only asks to be convinced, and 
he is willing to confess his mistake. We can see at times 
the impetuousness of his nature breaking out under the in- 
dignant sense of wrong or injustice. He utters his feelings 
in sharp and even burning words, Fearing not the face 
of man, he dares avow his doctrines before the world ; and 
if the occasion demands, can lash the vices of men in 
power, with unsparing invective and reproof. And yet, 
so thoroughly is he master of himself, so perfectly has he 
schooled his passions to self-control, that rarely a word 
escapes his lips, or a step is taken, which he needs to re- 
call. In all the prominent men of his age we look in vain 
for that combination of qualities by which he was emi- 
nently fitted for the task committed to his hands. He 
showed throughout his trial a presence of mind, and a 
power and quickness of apprehension, which are perfectly 
surprising, when w^e consider the hardships of his pro- 
tracted imprisonment, for the most part deprived of books, 
and the tumultuous scenes in the Council, which at times 
made it more like a mob than a body of men assembled to 
deliberate and judge. In other reformers we can in almost 
every instance detect some weakness or excess that led 
them into blunders, and which w^e sadly regret. . . . But 
Huss pursued a course in which his decision and modera- 
tion, his conscientiousness and docility, his loyalty to truth 
and his respect for the rights and judgment of others, are 
happily blended. . . . Frank, genial, and confiding, he 



168 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

scorned all disguise of his views or feelings. His motives 
are transparent and avowed, and he is never ashamed to 

confess them That he valued and desired the love of 

all good men, is obvious. But he seems never to have been 
carried away by the mere love of applause. In his contro- 
versies he never descends to personal abuse. He expresses, 
in strong language, his disapproval of the course of some 

of his party in the use of reproachful epithets His 

social affections were warm and tender We have 

indeed in Huss a man whose faculties were admirably 
balanced — true and devoted as a friend, powerful yet cour- 
teous as an antagonist, eloquent in the pulpit, faithful as a 
witness to the truth before the Council, a hero in the 
prison, and a martyr at the stake." And we may add, 
that although it was not given him to see through all the 
mysteries of iniquity attendant on the Romish system, nor 
all the corruptions of doctrine introduced by centuries of 
blind submission to its priesthood, yet he had the rare vir- 
tue of unwavering faithfulness, through all provocations 
and threats of the powers of this AA'orld (so far as appears 
even by the accounts of his enemies), to those principles of 
divine truth which had been made manifest to his under- 
standing, and was willing to attest them at the stake by 
the sacrifice of his life, rather than purchase his personal 
safety by a base denial of his conscientious convictions. 

The Bohemian historian Palacky gives the following es- 
timate of the character of Huss:* predicated, he says, es- 
pecially upon manuscripts of Huss in the Bohemian lan- 
guage wjiich still exist, but which for the most part re- 
main unpublished. After expressing his opinion that "the 

-■'• Kindly furnished to the authoi- by Wm. G. Malin, of Philadelphia, 
who has made the history of the times of Huss, and of the Council of Con- 
stance, a special study, and has matpriaily assisted in certain items of this 
account. 



JOHN HUSS. 169 

course of sermons preached by John Huss in the Beth- 
lehem Chapel at Prague were amoug the most weighty 
and important events of his time," Palacky continues thus : 
" Less harsh in his language than Konrad Walthauser, less 
fanatical or visionary in his views than Milic, he wrought 
no such stormy emotion in his hearers as they had done ; 
but the impression he made was much more enduring. 
Huss addressed himself especially to the understanding of 
his hearers, awakened reflection, first informed and con- 
vinced, and then failed not in impression and eloquent 
exhortation. The acuteness and clearness of his mind, 
the tact with which he at once penetrated to the core of 
an}'' question, and the ease with which he unfolded and 
exhibited it to the eyes of all men ; his " great reading, 
especially of the Holy Scriptures, and the solidity and 
consistency with which he established and enforced his pro- 
positions, gave him pre-eminent influence among his col- 
leagues and cotemporaries. To these great qualities were 
added powerful earnestness of purpose, a truly pious spirit, 
a daily life in which his bitterest enemy could find no sub- 
ject of blame, a burning zeal for the moral elevation of his 
countrymen and the reformation of their church; — but also 
uncalculating boldness, regardlessness of consequences, in- 
flexible determination, a strong thirst for popularity, and 
an ambition which regarded the martyr's crown as the 
highest object to which a mortal might aspire." 

About ten months after his death, his friend Jerome, 
who had through weakness and fear given way so far as to 
disavow his true sentiments in hope of saving his life, 
found that such a compliance afi'orded him neither safety 
of body nor peace to his soul, and candidly came forward 
before the Council, condemning his recantation, and nobly 
advocating the principles which had really actuated him 
in the course in Avhich John Huss and himself had been so 



170 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

closely united. The Council, as was to be expected, con- 
demned him to the stake; and he perished in the same 
place that had witnessed the martyrdom of Huss. 



CHAPTER IX. 

GERHARD GROOT. 

Much of what we know of this pious and benevolent 
man is from the warm and loving pen of Thomas a Kempis, 
with the addition of some other information collected re- 
cently from various sources by C. TJllmann.* 

Gerhard Groot was born in the year 1340, at Deventer, 
in the Netherlands. His father, Werner Groot, was sheriff 
and burgomaster of that town. Of a feeble constitution of 
body, but endowed with superior mental powers, after re- 
ceiving the rudiments of his education at school, he was 
induced by an ambition for knowledge to place himself, 
when about fifteen years of age, at the University of Paris, 
where he remained three j^ears. He graduated as Master 
in his eighteenth year, and, at the desire of his father, re- 
turned home, furnished, it is said, with a good knowledge 
of the studies in which he had been engaged, but ''with 
his youthful mind somewhat unhappily engaged with the 
curious and illicit arts" of magic— a strange sort of knowl- 
edge for a student at that far-famed academy. He after- 
ward further pursued his studies at Cologne, became a pro- 
fessor there, and obtained several preferments. 

Though he had thus entered the clerical ranks, yet, hav- 

*■ '• Reformers before the Reformation," vol. i. 



GERHARD GROOT. IH 

ing ample pecuniary means, and his mind unrestrained as 
jet by subjection to the cross of Christ, but, on the con- 
trary, enamored with the delights of the world, he seemed 
likely to pursue the usual path of self-indulgence. "He 
took part in public amusements, treated himself to the 
richest food and most costly wine, dressed his hair, wore 
gay clothes, a girdle with silver ornaments, and a cloak of 
the finest fur.* With prominent intellectual acquisitions, 
he was then a man according to the prevailing spirit of the 
times. But soon deeper and more serious sentiments awoke 
within him." While present one day as a spectator at 
some public game, an unknown person said to him, "Why 
dost thou stand here intent on vanities ? Thou must be- 
come another man." But he was still more shaken by 
some expressions of an old Parisian acquaintance, Henry 
Aeger, who, meeting with him at XJtrecht, took the oppor- 
tunity to "admonish him with deep earnestness on the 
vanity of earthly things, and on death, eternity, and the 
chief good." This, it is added, struck the right chords 
in Gerhard's heart — no doubt reached the witness for truth 
in his own conscience — and, overcome with emotion, he 
promised that, with the help of the Almighty, he would 
renounce the world and change his course of life. 

From that time he became indeed "another man." He 
"renounced the use of the emoluments of his prebends," 
and even of his patrimonial inheritance, "burned his costly 
books of magic, shunned all diversions, put on plain gray 
clothing, and calmly braved the derision which this conduct 
brought upon him." He gave up his lectures and orations, 
retired into the seclusion of a monastery, and there spent 
three years in serious reflection, reading the Holy Scrip- 
tures, and practising rigorous penitential exercises. He 
passed a considerable portion even of his nights in watch- 

* Thomas a Kempis, Vita Gerhardi 3fagn{. 



172 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

ing and praj^er, abstained from many things usually con- 
sidered lawful, and thus endeavored to bring his body into 
subjection to the spirit. "His object," says Thomas a 
Kempis, ''was first to learn for himself, what he was after- 
ward to teach others." 

It seems that he now refused to become a priest. He 
said, "I would not, for all the gold of Arabia, undertake 
the care of souls even for a single night." He would only 
consent to be ordained a deacon, in which office he would 
be at liberty publicly to instruct the people, without the 
pastoral care and responsibility. He then came forward 
as a Christian teacher of the people ; and Ullmann says of 
him at this time, that "after obtaining from the Bishop of 
Utrecht a license to preach over the whole of his diocese, 
Gerhard was seen, as of old Peter de Bruys and Henry of 
Lausanne, and as in more recent times George Fox, Wil- 
liam Penn, and others, in mean attire, travelling through 
towns and villages, and everywhere exhorting the people 
to repentance and amendment, with overpowering elo- 
quence. As depicted by Thomas a Kempis, he labored in 
the spirit of John the Baptist, laying the axe to the root 
of the tree, and by preaching the law and repentance to his 
cotemporaries, now more and more generally sinking into 
wickedness, he again prepared them for the reviving gospel. 
His discourses, listened to by the great and the humble, by 
clergy and laity, went to the heart. It was not merely 
the copiousness and easy flow of his eloquence that struck 
the hearers, but a very different thing. Here was a preacher 
who spoke, not because it was his professional dut}', nor 
for the sake of the pay (it is expressly mentioned that he 
received no pay from them to whom he preached, nor 
sought any temporal or ecclesiastical benefit), but freely 
and gratuitously, and because impelled by the zeal of love 
— a preacher in whom it was impossible not to mark deep 



GERHARD GROOT. 173 

concern and intense seriousness, and who sealed, by the 
actions of his life, the sentiments taught him by his own 
experience." He did not address the people, as many did, 
in the Latin language, which was foreign to them, but in 
the dialect of the country. Hence, in many places in Hol- 
land, where he first preached in low Dutch, the whole pop- 
ulation, it is related, neglecting their meals and most ur- 
gent business, thronged in such multitudes to hear him, 
that the houses of worship were not able to contain them, 
and he was compelled to bring his audience into the open 
air. He frequently preached twice a day, often for three 
-liours at a time, and the result was not mere wonder and 
transitory excitement, but actual conversion and permanent 
amendment. Many were induced, says a cotemporary, to 
renounce a worldly life, to devote themselves to God, to 
restore stolen property, give up usury, and live in chastity 
and temperance. 

But he was by no means ignorant that the suspicions 
and hatred of the monks and common clergy followed him 
wherever he went. He had attacked unsparingly the cor- 
ruption of this class, especially the manners of such as led 
impure lives ; and this aroused many bitter enemies to him 
and his doctrine. The Bishop of Utrecht was at last pre- 
vailed upon .to withdraw his license to preach ; and though 
Gerhard modestly protested against this prohibition, yet on 
its being insisted upon, he avoided appealing to the indig- 
nant feelings of the people, and submitted to the mandate. 

His exertions for the good of his fellow-creatures were 
now turned into a somewhat different though a congenial 
channel. Being thus prohibited from continuing to preach 
publicly to the people, his mind was directed to the educa- 
tion of youth, and, the art of printing not being yet known, 
to the copying of books of piety. In the year 1378, when 
about thirty-eight years of age, he paid a visit to the mon- 



174 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

astery of G-riinthal, of which the aged John Ruysbroek was 
then prior. He was particularly struck with admiration in 
witnessing the social life — the family spirit — which pre- 
vailed among the canons of that religious house. ' They 
seemed to him, in their simplicity, to realize the idea of a 
brotherhood rather than of a monastic institution; and 
Thomas a Kempis says that, impressed by the edifying and 
simple life of Ruysbroek and his brethren, Gerhard thence- 
forth felt himself determined to form an institution of a 
similar kind. But this particular prospect was frustrated 
by his early death. He extended his journey to Paris, 
where he expended a considerable sum in the purchase of 
books for the instruction of youth. He then returned to 
his native town of Deventer. 

He had always been fond of the society of young men. 
In Deventer there was a considerable school ; and many of 
the youth who frequented it attached themselves to Ger- 
hard Groot ; who advised them about their studies, main- 
tained with them scientific intercourse, read with them 
good books, entertained many of them at his table, and pro- 
cured for them the opportunity of bettering their pecuniary 
condition, by earning a little money in useful employment. 

Gerhard himself had quite a solicitude for the multiply- 
ing of copies of good books, especially of well- written copies 
of the Holy Scriptures. ''Hence," says Ullmann,' " he had 
long before employed 3^oung men under his oversight, as 
copyists, thereby accomplishing the threefold end of mul- 
tiplying these good works, giving profitable employment to 
the youths, and obtaining an opportunity of influencing 
their minds. The circle of his youthful friends, scholars, 
and transcribers, became from day to day larger, and grew 
at length into a regular society. Having thus in part owed 
its origin to the copying of the Scriptures and devotional 
books, the society from the outset and through its whole 



GERHARD GROOT. * 1*75 

continuance, made the Holy Scripture and its propagation, 
the copying, collecting, preserving, and utilizing of good 
books, one of its main objects." 

Young Florentius Radewins, then Yicar of Deventer, 
one day said to Gerhard: " Dear master, what harm would 
it do, were I and these clerks, who are here copying, to 
put our weekly earnings into a common fund and live to- 
gether ?" — " Live together !" replied Gerhard; " the men- 
dicant monks would never permit it ; they would do their 
worst to prevent us." — ''But w^hat," said Florentius, "is 
to prevent us m.aking the trial ? Perhaps God would give 
us success." — " Well then," said Gerhard, " commence ; I 
will be your advocate, and faithfully defend you against all 
who rise up against you." In this manner they formed 
themselves into a private society ; and, as their manner of 
living in community was imitated, they grew at length 
into an extensive confederation, under the designation of 
"The Brethren of the Common Lot." 

Thus was Gerhard Groot instrumental in founding an 
association which afterward, ramified through many parts 
of Germany and the Netherlands, exercised a powerful in- 
fluence for good in the promotion of a pious education of 
youth, and in preparing the minds of the succeeding gen- 
eration for the Reformation of the sixteenth century. These 
societies had in them something akin to those of Mon- 
achism, but without the vow, and without much of the 
superstition and mere legal performances, especially with- 
out the idleness and awful corruption of morals which had 
then fastened upon a very large proportion of them ; on 
the contrary, they formed a union of brethren endeavoring 
after the apostolic pattern according to their apprehension 
of the primitive church, and combining for the cultivation, 
not of absolute recluseness, but of practical piety and use- 
fulness to their fellow-men. Ullmann says they procured 



1Y6 . • RErORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

for themselves the means of a simple livelihood, partly like 
the Apostle Paul, by manual labor, and partly by receiving 
voluntary donations ; vs^hich, however, none of the brethren 
were permitted to solicit, except in a case of urgent neces- 
sity. In this, too, they were clearly distinguished from the 
mendicant monks. To insure their common subsistence, 
and in token of their fraternal affection, they had introduced 
the principle of a community of goods. In most cases, each 
member surrendered what property he possessed, for the 
use of the society. But there seems to have been no strict 
or general law on the subject ; all was to proceed from in- 
dividual freedom and love. The object of the societies was 
the exemplification and spread of practical Christianity. 
This they endeavored to accomplish by the moral rigor 
and simplicity of their manner of living, by religious con- 
versations, mutual confessions, admonitions, lectures, and 
social exercises of a devotional nature. .For the promotion 
of the same object outwardly, they labored by transcribing 
and propagating Holy Scripture and other religious treat- 
ises, but most of all by the instruction of the people and 
the revival and improvement of the education of youth. In 
the schools of most of the large towns such wages were 
exacted from the scholars as only the more wealthy could 
pay; while the style 'of instruction was nevertheless very 
defective. The schools of the monks were equally unsatis- 
factory, very superficial, and often coarse and superstitious. 
**The Brethren of the Common Lot," says UUmann, ''on 
the contrary, not merely gave instruction gratuitously, and 
thereby rendered the arts of reading and writing attainable 
by all, both rich and poor ; but, what was of most conse- 
quence, they imbued education with quite a new life and 
a purer and nobler spirit." Gerhard's views of school 
learning for the masses, were that it should be simple, 
practically useful, carefully guarded, all consistent Avith 



GERHARD GROOT. ' 177 

the doctrines of Holy Scripture, and all with a view to 
self-acquaintance, improvement, and progress in true piet}^; 
and these institutions thus arranged, constituted a turning 
point in the general system of juvenile and popular educa- 
tion ; the beneficial results of which soon displayed them- 
selves so convincingly, that Brother Houses were erected 
in a short time in different places in Holland, Westphalia, 
Saxony, etc. 

Their practice of mutual confession to one another gave 
an indirect yet a very decided blow to the prevalent super- 
stition of priestly confession and absolution. They also 
carefully avoided the use of oaths in their speech, pre- 
ferring a simple affirmation or negation. Their efforts were 
directed to the great object of promoting prudence, recti- 
tude, and the utmost conscientiousness, not merely in re- 
gard to actions, but even to the most minute word or ex- 
pression. They introduced a much more substantial and 
correct method of teaching Latin and Greek than was then 
common in the schools, and were so successful in this, as to 
train and send forth some of the most eminent of the re- 
vivers of ancient literature at the close of the fifteenth and 
commencement of the sixteenth century. The use of the 
mother-tongue in religious matters, as practised by them, 
was a very important step in advance, greatly promoting 
the circulation of the Bible in the language of the people. 

Gerhard was still a member of the Romish church, and 
probably attached from education to many or most of its 
doctrines. Yet w^as he a reformer in very deed, and helped 
essentially to pave the way for entire emancipation from its 
corruptions. He insisted earnestly upon the diligent use 
of the Holy Scriptures, and aided, as we have seen, in the 
multiplication of manuscript copies of them, which was no 
small labor. In the Scriptures, he sought chiefly that doc- 
trine which is vital and efficacious, considering Christ as 



Its ' REFORMERS AND MARTYRS 

the root of life, and the sole foundation of the church. The 
primitive church was in his eyes a model of perfection ; 
and in it he found a piety and zealous fervor, which, in his 
own days, he no longer beheld. While upholding the sys- 
tem of priesthood, he desired its reorganization on a genu- 
ine spiritual standard, and labored to correct its corruptions 
as then existing. 

But he lived not long to carry all his purposes into prac- 
tice. Toward the close of his life, but whether after he 
was attacked with his last sickness we are not informed, he 
often expressed a desire for death. Once, when longing 
after eternal life, he said to one of the brethren: "What 
have I any longer to do here on earth? Oh that I were 
with my Master in heaven !" In the year 1384 the plague 
visited the town of Deventer, and attacked one of Gerhard's 
friends. He hastened to his help, having some skill in 
medicine ; but was himself smitten with the disease. And 
now, when he felt death obviously approaching, he met it 
with exemplary resignation, saying, " Lo, I am now sum- 
moned by the Lord. The hour of my departure is come." 
To the brethren who stood weeping around his bed, and 
lamenting the anticipated loss of so valued a preceptor, he 
said: "Set your confidence in God, my dear friends, and 
fear not what the men of this world may say. Be stead- 
fast ; for man cannot prevent what God has determined to 
accomplish." And commending his beloved pupil and 
friend Florentius to their confidence, he calmly breathed 
his last, in his native city, in the forty-fifth year of his age. 

He bequeathed his library to the Brother House at De- 
venter. Besides this he left no property, except some old 
furniture and clothing; having long disentangled himself 
from all the encumbrances of worldly affairs. 



THOMAS A KEMPIS. 179 



CHAPTER X. 

THOMAS A KEMPIS. 

Among the numerous pupils of the schools of the " Breth- 
ren of the Common Lot," none became more justly eminent 
for genuine piety, or was more truly and widely beloved 
by cotemporary and succeediag Christians for the loving 
and lamb-like spirit pervading his writings, than the hum- 
ble but celebrated author of the "Imitation of Christ." 

Thomas Hamerken, or Hamerlein, was born in the year 
1380, at the little town of Kempen, in the great plain of 
the Rhine, near the city of Cologne. From the name of 
his native place, according to the custom of those times, he 
was generally called Thomas a Kempis. His parents, 
John and Gertrude, were in humble life, his father earning 
their subsistence by his daily labor as a mechanic; his 
mother was a woman of exemplary piety, exerting a favor- 
able influence on the tender mind of her son, in cherishing 
a love for heavenly things. 

When about thirteen years of age, he went to Deventer, 
where the school of the Brethren of the Common Lot 
offered an opportunity for his obtaining a good education 
without much expense to his family. He was, however, 
not at first a resident in the Brother House, but being in- 
troduced to Florentius Radewins, the superintendent, he 
obtained through him a lodging in the house of a pious 
matron, and pursued his studies in the grammar school. 
Florentius soon won his respect by his venerable manners, 
and his affection by acts of kindness and attention to the 
poor boy. He furnished him with books, which his limited 



180 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

means did not enable him to purchase, and supplied him 
with money to pay the school expenses. The rector of the 
grammar school -at that time was John Boehme, who, ac- 
cording to Thomas's account, was an intimate friend of 
Florentius, and exercised rigid disciphne. Thomas having 
one day gone to him to pay the school fees, and to redeem 
a book which he had temporarily pawned, the rector asked 
him, ''who gave you the money ?" On hearing that it was 
Florentius, Boehme dismissed the boy, with the words, 
"Gro, take it back to him; for his sake I shall charge you 
nothing." He thus obtained his schooling for the future 
on the funds of the Institution. 

Thomas was evidently a youth of very conscientious, 
tender, and susceptible feelings; and being deeply imbued 
with sentiments of piety, w^as struck with love and admira- 
tion whenever he witnessed evidences of it in others. In 
his memoir of his friend Florentius, Thomas mentions many 
traits of that simplicity, dignity, gentleness, and self-sacri- 
ficing activity for the good of others, which had won his 
ardent admiration. Before he became a boarder in the 
Brother House, he was directed by the teacher to attend 
with some other boys in the choir of the chapel. Here 
Florentius attended also. Thomas says, "Now whenever 
I saw my good master Florentius standing in the choir, 
even though he did not look about, I was so awed in his 
presence by his venerable aspect, that I never dared to 
speak a word. On one occasion I stood close beside him, 
and he turned to me, and sang from the same book. He 
even put his hand upon my shoulder, and then I stood as 
if rooted to the spot, afraid even to stir, so amazed was I 
at the honor done me." 

Thomas, in course of time, came to dwell in Florentius's 
house, and closer acquaintance strengthened his love for 
him. When he happened to be troubled in his mind, he 



THOMAS A KEMPIS 181 

applied, like the other youths on similar occasions, to his 
respected master ; and such was the effect of even a sight 
of his placid and cheerful countenance, or of a few words 
of conversation, that he seldom failed to leave his presence 
comforted and encouraged. This attachment showed itself 
in small matters. In consequence of weak health, Floren- 
tius sometimes could not partake of the common meals, but 
ate at a small table in the kitchen. Thomas then con- 
sidered it an honor to Vv-ait upon him. ''Unworthy though 
I was," he says, "I often at his invitation prepared the 
table, brought from the dining-room what little he required, 
and served him with cheerfulness and joy." If Florentius 
was at any time more sick than usual, it was customary 
with the Brethren to inform the neighboring Brother Houses 
and request their remembrance of him in prayer. On such 
occasions Thomas often undertook to carry the message, 
d^ghting to be so employed. Doubtless Fiorentius's pious 
WRnple had great effect in moulding the after-life and 
character of his affectionate pupil. 

Another inmate whose example made a deep impression 
upon him was Henry Brune, a memoir of whose Hfe also 
is among the productions of his pen. He says, "One day 
in winter, Henry was sitting by the fireside, warming his 
hands, but with his face turned towards the Avail, for he 
w^as at the time engaged in secret prayer. When I saw 
this, I was greatly edified, and from that day loved him all 
the more." Little incidents of this nature, told in Thomas's 
simple familiar style, let us into the inward character of 
his mind perhaps more readily than events of apparently 
greater importance. He was deeply interested in the re- 
ligious exercises of the Brethren at Deventer, and attached 
himself entirely to their mode of life, entering into full out- 
ward communion with the society. He obtained from 
Florentius a place in the Brother House, in which at that 

9 



182 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

time twenty-three members dwelt together and received 
maintenance. His chief companion, and soon his most in- 
timate friend, was Arnold of Schoenhofen, a youth of fer- 
vent piety, with whom he shared a little chamber and bed. 
Here Thomas occupied himself in copying and reading the 
Holy Scriptures, taking part also unremittingly in the re- 
ligious exercises of the family. What he earned by writing, 
he put into the common fund ; and when it fell below what 
was needful for his support, the lack Avas supplied by the 
generosity of Florentius. The pious example of his young 
friend Arnold deeply impressed him. Arnold would rise 
every morning exactly at four o'clock, and after a short 
prayer at his bedside, quickly dressed himself and hastened 
to the place of worship, where, at all the exercises, he was 
the first to come and the last to depart. Besides, he fre- 
quently withdrew to some solitary place, in order to devote 
himself unobserved to prayer and meditation. Thomas 
sometimes accidentally became^ a witness of these out^jjfc- 
ings of his friend's heart. He says, in his biography of 
Arnold, "I found myself on such occasions kindled by his 
zeal to prayer, and wished to experience, were it only 
sometimes, a devotion like that which he seemed almost 
daily to possess. Nor was his fervor in prayer at all won- 
derful, considering that w4ieresoever he went or staid, he 
was most diligent in keeping his heart and mouth." Ar- 
nold expressing once to him his earnest wish to learn 
quickly and well the art of neat writing, so usefully applied 
by the Brethren, Thomas thought within himself, "Ah, 
willingly would I also learn to write, did I but first know 
how to make myself better. But," adds he respecting his 
friend, " he obtained special grace from God, which made 
him skilful in every good work." Thomas evidently looked 
upon him as far more advanced in the spiritual life than 
himself 



THOMAS A KEMPIS. 183 

He thus spent seven happA^ years, industriously engaged 
in prosecuting his studies and transcribing religious books, 
in the school and Brother House at Deventer. He was 
probably about completing the twenty-first year of his age, 
when one day Florentius called him to him at the close of 
the religious exercises, and addressed him seriously on the 
importance of the choice which he must now look towards 
making, of an avocation for life. It seems that having often 
observed Thomas's pious disposition, he was inclined to pro- 
mote his entering into some monastic order; and Thomas, 
who had unbounded confidence in his master's judgment, 
finding it to accord with his own inclination towards a 
quiet contemplative religious life, at once acceded to his 
advice. The Brethren of the Common Lot had been in- 
strumental in founding a monastery which they called the 
Monastery of St. Agnes, by the Dutch since known as 
Berg Clooster, situated on a pleasant and healthy eleva- 
tion near the town of Zwoll. Recently erected, and with 
but slender means, it was as yet but little known. This 
institution, as being in Florentius's estimation the most 
eligible, he recommended to Thomas's choice, and gave 
him a letter of introduction to the prior. Thomas was 
kindly received, duly installed there at first for five years 
as a novitiate,. and afterward as a priest, and spent the 
rest of his long and quiet life within its cloisters. 

We must now contemplate Thomas Hamerken as a 
monk, for that he truly was during about seventy years of 
his life. Yet his monastic habit appears as if it had ever 
been covered by the genial warmth of a truly Christian 
spirit. How far it was wise in him to make the choice 
of this mode of life, we may certainly have doubts. But 
we must take into consideration the tendencies of the 
age, and the almost universal practice at that time for re- 
ligious persons to seek refuge, in such institutions, though 



184 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

often a fallacious one, from the pollutions, temptations, 
and dangers of the world around them. 

Thomas, however, led no idle life in his monastic condi- 
tion. He still diligently occupied himself with the copying 
of books, and writing original works, as well as in the daily 
routine of the monastery. He is said to have been quite a 
fine penman, taking delight in having books well written 
and even in an ornamental manner. He made many copies 
of his own works, and the monastery preserved for many 
years a beautiful copy of the Bible in four volumes, exe- 
cuted by him, and several other large books. He was a 
great economist of time, and, to the neglect of his health, 
busied himself from the earliest hour in the morning. His 
maxim was: In the morning, resolve; and in the even- 
ing, examine thy behavior; what thou hast that day been, 
in thought, word, and deed ; for in all these, perhaps, thou 
hast often offended Grod and thy brother. Gird thy loins 
like a valiant man, and be continually watchful against the 
malicious stratagems of the devil. Bridle the appetite of 
gluttony, and thou wilt with less difliculty restrain all 
other inordinate desires of animal nature. Never suffer 
the invaluable moments of thy life to steal by unimproved, 
and leave thee in idleness and vacancy; but be always 
either reading, or writing, or praying, or meditating, or 
employed in some useful labor for the common good." 

During many years of his life, and until his decease, he 
held the ofiSce of sub-prior of the monastery. His life 
flowed on like a placid stream, with quiet industry, lonely 
contemplation, and secret drawings to the Source of all 
good in prayer. Ullraann says of him, partly on the 
authority of Franciscus Tolensis, that all who were ac- 
quainted with him have borne witness how, during the 
whole course of his life, he evinced love to God and love 
to man, cheerfully bearing all afflictions, and kindly ex- 



THOMAS A KEMPIS. 185 

cusing the faults and foibles of his brethren. In his whole 
nature and habits, be was cleanly, moderate, chaste, in- 
wardly happy, and outwardly cheerful. His great en- 
deavor was for the attainment of uniform tranquillity and 
peace of mind, and the calm happiness of communion with 
the Most High. With this in view, he did not willingly 
or needlessly entangle himself with the affairs of the 
world, avoided intercourse with its great and honorable, 
observed a marked silence when the conversation turned 
on temporal things, and was ever fond of solitude and 
meditation. Yet he was by no means void of sensibility, 
and had from early youth a warm and lively sense of 
friendship, chiefly founding it on a mutual love of heavenly 
things. His Biographies of eleven of his fellow-inmates at 
the Brother House of Deventer evince this in a lively man- 
ner. He was full of zeal for the welfare of the community 
in which he lived, and an eloquent advocate of their views 
of divine truth. Multitudes are said to have flocked to 
hear him, even from remote places. It is said that during 
the exercise of singing the psalms, he stood erect, never 
studying his ease by leaning against anything to support 
his body; his look was reverentially upward; and his 
countenance and whole frame showed the heavenly direc- 
tion of his soul. We must not omit to add, that on cer- 
tain occasions, in conformity with the practices then prev- 
alent, he resorted to the use of the scourge as a part of his 
private personal discipline. 

Thomas's outward appearance corresponded to the gen- 
tleness of his inward nature. He is described as below 
the middle size, but well proportioned. The color of his 
face was fresh, with a slight tinge of brown. His eyes 
were piercingly bright, and notwithstanding almost con- 
stant use, retained their acuteness of vision to extreme old 
age ; so that he never used spectacles, though he lived to 
be over ninety years of age. 



186 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

Besides his eleven Biographies ah'eady mentioned, which 
were probably the product of his somewhat early years, 
he wrote a series of Sermons, for the especial use of the 
"Novices" in religious institutions: and his more import- 
ant works, the " Soliloquy of the Soul," the "Garden of 
Roses," the " Yaliey of Lilies," and especially his great 
work on "The Imitation of Christ," with some minor 
pieces, are supposed to have been written during the later 
and more mature period of his life. He wrote also some 
Discourses addressed to Monks, a few religious poems, and 
other small works of but little interest at the present time. 

From what we have already seen of his life and char- 
acter, it is hardly needful to say that in all his WTitings 
his great object is to uphold and maintain the spiritual 
nature of all true religion, and to bring it home to the 
heart of man as a renovating power ; yet that his views, 
excellent and edifying as they are in this respect, are by 
no means free from the cherished bias of his mind towards 
the system prevalent in his day. He was a great reformer, 
yet still holding to the forms and ceremonies of the Romish 
church, notwithstanding the real incompatibility of many 
of his principles with the outwardness and legal formalities 
of that system. His eye seems to have pierced as it were 
into the dawn of a brighter day, and his heart to have 
seized it in the love of it; but without being conscious 
that he was in measure preparing the way for it ; for shut 
up as he was from the world in the seclusion of his cloister, 
the scope of his vision was limited, and he could not freely 
range over the field of gospel truth in the liberty and clear 
light of the gospel, as might have been the case had he not 
been bound by the ties of his order, and had he felt himself 
free to contrast his own inward convictions with the falsi- 
ties which had been forced upon mankind in the name of 
Christianity. He might thus have seen that the S3^stem 



THOMAS A KEMPIS. 187 

then in vogue, and to which he clung, was, in its tenor 
and in its spirit, no more like his own spirit and the secret 
tendencies of his heart, than a dead and dry nutshell is 
like the rich and living fruit. But he felt himself a pil- 
grim and a sojourner in the world, his mind was ardently 
bent heavenward, his childlike spirit was satisfied with 
nothing short of the incomes of heavenly consolation, and 
he seemed to shrink from looking outward at the incon- 
sistent dogmas which were afloat, or from endeavoring to 
meddle with things which, without direct guidance and 
help from on high, he might have found too hard for his 
geutle nature. In short, he was not made for that war- 
fare ; and it would not be right to judge him unfaithful, for 
not seeing what had never been clearly unfolded to his 
view, when we have abundant evidence of his constant 
concern to be found walking acceptably with God, accord- 
ing to the measure of light and grace vouchsafed. 

It is true, as Ullmann remarks, that he adhered strictly 
to the creed of the Romish faith as it had been handed 
down, and did not assail any of its doctrines. He prac- 
tised with zeal the exercises of worship which then ob- 
tained currency, and believed them to be right, not feeling 
disposed to enter into what he might have considered as a 
rash spirit of criticism, in doubting their correctness or 
eJG&cacy. In some of his writings his views seem more or 
less tinged with the legalism of the schools of the middle 
ages ; but in other parts he displays remarkably clear and 
sound view^s of the nature of regeneration and redemption 
through Christ our Saviour. His mind was not fond of 
the intricacies of doctrine. He made war, not with here- 
tics, but with the world, sin being the great heresy in his 
eyes, and the object of perpetual hostility. To the hier- 
archical system he seems to have paid no attention. He 
just let it stand where he found it, and looked to some- 



188 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

thing more inward. In his numerous writings, Ullmann 
says, he only mentions the pope once [he should have 
said twice], and that only for the purpose of saying that 
he and all other men are nothing in the sight of eternity, 
and that his bulls are powerless to obviate the certainty 
of death. This he has expressed in two odd lines of Latin 
rhyme: 

" Omnia sunt nulla, Rex, Papa, et plumbea bulla. 
Cunctorum finis : mors, vermis, fovea, cinis." 

Ullmann further says, '' The secularization of the church, 
so far as he was acquainted with it, must have been, to one 
who had so little of a worldly spirit, an abomination. All 
he did and thought was [in accordance with] the saying 
of Christ, 'My kingdom is not of this world,' Hence he 
speaks against striving after honors either academical or 
ecclesiastical, against the wealth of churches and monas- 
teries, simony, plurality of ecclesiastical offices, and the secu- 
larities of monachism. . . . He ever insists upon the Chris- 
tian principles of spirituality and freedom which formed 
the basis of the reformation. ... To him the inward life, the 
disposition of mind; is the great matter. No work or ex- 
ternal thing is of any value except through love. Where 
there is genuine love, it sanctifies all. In the spirit of the 
fraternity of which he was a member, he did m.any things 
to pave the way for reform. These consisted chiefly in 
zealously inculcating the reading of the Bible and the tran- 
scription of copies of it, — in laying the chief weight, not upon 
Moses or any sort of law, but upon Christ and his gospel, 
upon grace, repentance, faith, love, and the appropriation 
of the spirit of Scripture by the Spirit of God in the soul — 
in laboring much for the religious revival and instruction 
of the people— and in practically evincing a lively concern 
for the literary education of the rising generations. All 
this included the germs of future evolutions, although the 



THOMAS A KEMPIS. 189 

harvest which they bore was such as Thomas never antici- 
pated, and, if foreshown to him, he would scarcely have 
recognized as the growth of his own seed." 

Scarcely anythiog is known of the latter days of this 
eminently humble and heavenly-minded Christian. . He 
appears to have been permitted to attain to a somewhat 
unusually prolonged life. No particular incidents of his 
last illness have come down to us, but he died in the sum- 
mer of 1471, about the ninety-second year of his age. 

But few of his works have been translated from their 
original Latin into the English language. His "Imitation 
of Christ," written about the sixty-first year of his age, is so 
w^ll known and so highly appreciated, that it is scarcely 
needful here to enter into any analysis of its contents. It 
consists of three books, to which some editors have attached 
a fourth, being "the Book of the Sacrament ;" which, how- 
ever, evidently by no means belongs to it, and has probab- 
ly been in the first place appended by some who desired 
thereby to impart a more Romish character to the whole 
work. 

There are in this truly valuable treatise, as might be ex- 
pected, here and there, slight allusions to some of the views 
peculiar to the church of Rome, such as those on monastic 
obedience and duties, purgatory, and the merit of good 
works; yet these are very slightly touched upon. And his 
advocacy of good works is by no means such as to coun- 
terbalance the evidence, contained in various portions of 
the work, of his sound acceptance and true appreciation of 
the great and fundamental doctrines of the Sonship and 
atonement of Christ ;* though it is true that he has not 

* In his "Book of the Sacrament" (chap, ii.) he says: "The love 
of Christ is as incapable of change or diminution as his own being; 
and the treasures of his propitiation are not to be exhausted." This is 
evidently the expression of one to whom that doctrine was a settled con- 
viction. 

9* 



190 REFORMERS AND MARTYR^. 

given the latter any particular prominence in the treatise. 
This may have arisen from the pre-eminently practical 
nature of the work, to the exclusion of almost all that 
might, in a sense, be termed abstract doctrine. As he fully 
believed in the apostolic declaration that ''faith without 
works is dead," so he desired also that all men should be 
induced, and enabled by the grace of God, to show their 
faith by their works. A few detached extracts may give 
an idea of the value of the book, to such readers as are 
unacquainted with this instructive collection of aphorisms 
on the practical doctrines and duties of the Christian life. 
He seems to speak from his own experience. 

"'He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but 
shall have the light of life.' These are the words of Christ, 
by which we are taught, that it is only by a conformity to 
His life and Spirit that we can be truly enhghtened, and 
delivered from all blindness of heart. . . . The doctrine of 
Christ infinitely transcends the doctrine of the holiest men ; 
and he that had the Spirit of Christ would find in it ' hidden 
manna, the bread that came down from heaven.' But not 
having his Spirit, many, though they frequently hear his 
doctrine, yet feel no pleasure in it, no ardent desire after it." 

"He whom the Eternal Word condescendeth to teach 
is disengaged at once from the labyrinth of hu,man opin- 
ions. For of One Word are all things; and all things, 
without voice or language, speak Him alone. . He is that 
Divine Principle, which speaketh in our hearts, and with- 
out which there can be neither just apprehension nor recti- 
tude of judgment. Now he to whom all things are but this 
One, who comprehendeth all things in His will, and be- 
holdeth all things in His Light, hath his 'heart fixed,' and 
abideth in the peace of God. O ! God, who art the Truth, 
make me one with thee in everlasting love ! I am often 
weary of reading, and weary of hearing ; in thee alone is 



THOMAS A KEMPIS. 191 

the sum of my desires. Let all teachers be silent ; let the 
whole creation be dumb before thee ; and do thou only 
speak unto my soul." 

''A holy life makes a man wise according to the Divine 
Wisdom, and wonderfully enlargeth his experience. And 
the more humble his spirit is, and the more subject and re- 
signed to God, the more wise will he become in the con- 
duct of outward life, and the more undisturbed in the pos- 
session of himself" 

"Not eloquence, but truth, is to be sought after in the 
Holy Scriptures ; every part of which must be read with 
the same Spirit by which it was written. And as in these, 
and all other books, it is improvement in holiness, not 
pleasure in the subtlety of the thought or the accuracy of 
the expression, that must be principally regarded, we ought 
to read those parts that are simple and devout, with the 
same affection and delight (at least) as those of high spec- 
ulation or profound erudition." 

" As much as lies in thy power, shun the resorts of 
worldly men ; for much conversation on secular business, 
however innocently managed, greatly retards the progress 
of the spiritual life. We are soon captivated by vain ob- 
jects and employments, and soon defiled ; and I have 
wished a thousand times, that I had either not been in com- 
pany, or had been silent." 

" The hope of consolation from outward life, utterly de- 
stroys that inward and divine consolation which the Holy 
Spirit gives us, and which is the only support of the soul 
under all its troubles. Let us therefore watch and pray 
without ceasing, that no part of our invaluable time may 
be thus sacrificed to vanity and sin ; and whenever it is 
proper and expedient to speak, let us speak those things 
that are holy, by which Christians edify one another." 

"If the progress to perfection is placed only in external 



192 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

observances, our religion, having no divine life, will quickly 
perish with the things on which it subsists. But the axe 
must be laid to the root of the tree, that, being separated 
and freed from the restless desires of nature and self, we 
may possess our souls in the peace of God." 

''It is hard, indeed, to relinquish that to which we have 
been accustomed; and harder still, to resist and deny 
our own will. But how can we hope to succeed in the 
greatest conflict, if we will not contend for victory in the 
least ? Resist then thy inordinate desires in their birth ; 
and continually lessen the power of thy evil habits ; lest, 
as they increase in strength in proportion as they are in- 
dulged, they grow at length too mighty to be subdued. Oh, 
if thou didst but consider, what peace thou wilt bring to 
thyself, and what joy thou wilt produce in heaven, by a life 
conformed to the life of Christ, I think thou wouldst be 
more watchful and zealous for thy continual advancement 
toward spiritual perfection." 

" The life of a religious man ought not only so to abound 
with holiness, as that the frame of his spirit may be at 
least equal to his outward behavior; but there ought to be 
much more holiness within, than is discernible without; 
because God, who searcheth the heart, is our inspector and 
judge, whom it is our duty infinitely to reverence, wherever 
we are, and as angels to walk pure in his sight. We ought 
every day to renew our holy resolutions, and incite ourselves 
to more animated fervor, as if this was the first day of our 
conversion ; and to say, ' Assist me, Lord God, in my 
resolution to devote myself to thy holy service; and grant, 
that this day I may begin to walk perfectly, because all 
that I have done hitherto is nothing.'" 

" The good resolutions of the righteous depend not upon 
their own wisdom and ability, but upon the grace of God, 
in which they perpetually confide, whatever be their at- 



THOMAS A KEMPTS. 193 

tempts; for they know that though 'the heart of man de- 
viseth his wa}^,' yet the Lord ordereth the event ; and that 
Mt is not in man that walketh, to direct his steps.'" 

" Appropriate a convenient part of time to retirement 
and self-converse ; and frequently meditate on the wonder- 
ful love of God in the redemption of man. Reject all 
studies that are merely curious, and read only Avhat will 
rather penetrate the heart with holy compunction, than ex- 
ercise the brain with useless speculations." 

"No man can safely go abroad, that does not love to stay 
at home ; no man can safely speak, that does not willingly 
hold his tongue ; no man can safely govern, that would not 
cheerfully become subject ; no man can safely command, 
that has not truly learned to obey ; and no man can safely 
rejoice, but he that has the testimony of a good con- 
science." 

"Lift up thy eyes to God in the heavens, and pray for 
the forgiveness of thy innumerable sins and negligences. 
Leave vain pleasures to the enjoyment of vain men, and 
mind only that w^hich God hath required of thee for thy 
own eternal good. Make thy door fast behind thee ; and 
iuvite Jesus, thy beloved, to come unto thee, and enlighten 
thy darkness with his light. Abide faithfully with him in 
this retirement ; for thou canst not find so much peace in 
any other place." 

" The end of thy present life will speedily come. Con- 
sider therefore in what degree of preparation thou standest 
for that which will succeed. To-day man is ; to-morrow 
he is not seen; and when he is- once removed from the 
sight of others, he soon passeth from their remembrance. 
Oh, the hardness and insensibility of the human heart, that 
thinks only on present enjoyments, and wholly disregards 
the prospects of futurity ! In every thought, in every ac- 
tion, thou shouldst govern and possess thy spirit so abso- 



194 REFORMERS AND MARTYBS. 

liitelj, as if thou wast to die to-day; and was thy con- 
science pure, thou wouldst not fear thy dissolution, how- 
ever near. It is better to avoid sin, than to shun death. If 
thou art not prepared for that awful event to-day, how wilt 
thou be prepared to-morrow ? To-morrow is an uncertain 
day, and how knowest thou that to-morrow will be thine ?-' 

''It is better to provide oil for thy lamp now, before it 
is wanted, than to depend upon receiving it from others, 
' when the bridegroom cometh;' for if thou art not careful 
of thyself now, who can be careful of thee hereafter, when 
time and opportunity are forever lost ? This instant, 
NOW, is exceedingly precious. 'Now is the accepted time, 
now is the day of salvation.' How deplorable therefore is 
it, not to improve this invaluable moment, in which we 
may 'lay hold on eternal life!' A time may come when 
thou shalt wish for one day, nay one hour, to repent in ; 
and who can tell whether thou wilt be able to obtain it ? 

"Awake then, dearest brother, and behold what incon- 
ceivable danger thou mayst now avoid, from what horrible 
fear thou mayst now be rescued, only by 'passing the time 
of thy sojourning here in fear,' and in continual expectation 
of thy removal by death. Endeavor now to live in such a 
manner, that in that awful moment, thou maj-st rejoice 
rather than fear. Learn now to die to the world, that thou 
mayst then begin to live with Christ. Learn now to de- 
spise all created things, that being delivered from every 
incumbrance, thou mayst then freely rise to Him." 

"Now, therefore, dearest brother, now turn to God, and 
do whatever his Holy Spirit enables thee to perform ; for 
thou knowest not the hour in which death will seize thee, 
nor canst thou conceive the consequences of his seizing thee 
unprepared. Now, while the time of gathering riches is in 
much mercy continued, lay up for thyself the substantial 
and unperishing treasures of heaven. Think of nothing 



THOMAS A KEMPIS. 195 

but the business of thy redemption ; be careful for nothing 
but the improvement of thy state in God." 

"Live in the world as a stranger and pilgrim, who hath 
no concern with business or pleasures; and knowing that 
thou hast 'here no continuing city,' keep thy heart disen- 
gaged from earthly passions and pursuits, and lifted up to 
heaven in the patient hope of 'a city that is to come, whose 
builder and maker is God.'" 

'"The kingdom of God is within you,' saith our blessed 
Redeemer. Abandon therefore the cares and pleasures of 
this world, and turn to the Lord with all thy heart, and 
thy soul shall find rest. If thou withdrawest thy attention 
from outward things, and keepest it fixed upon what passeth 
within thee, thou wilt soon perceive the coming of the king- 
dom of God ; for 'the kingdom of God' is that 'peace and 
joy in the Holy Ghost,' which cannot be received by sen- 
sual and worldly men. Christ will come to thee, and bless 
thee with the splendor of his presence, if thou preparest 
within thee an abode fit to receive him. All his glory and 
beauty are manifested within, and there he delights to 
dwell. His visits there are frequent, his condescension 
amazing, his conversation sweet, his comforts refreshing, 
and the peace that he brhigs passeth all understanding." 

"That man only is poor in this w^orld, who liveth with- 
out Jesus; and that man only is rich, with whom Jesus 
delights to dwell." 

"The vicissitude of day and night in the spiritual life, is 
neither new nor unexpected to those who are acquainted 
with the ways of God ; for the ancient prophets and most 
eminent saints have all experienced an alternative of visi- 
tation and desertion. As an instance of this, the royal 
prophet thus describes his own case : ' When I was in pros- 
perity,' says he, and my heart was filled with the treas- 
ures of grace, 'I said, I shall never be moved.' But these 



196 RErORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

treasures being soon taken away, and feeling in himself the 
poverty of fallen nature, he adds, ' Thou didst tarn thy face 
from me, and I was troubled.' Yet in this disconsolate 
state he does not despair, but with more ardor raises his 
desire and prayer to God : ' Unto thee, Lord, will I cry, 
and I will make my supplication unto my God.' And to 
show how mercy and help were manifested, he adds, 
'Ttrou hast turned my mourning into joy, and hast com- 
passed me about with gladness.' The Holy Spirit cometh 
and goeth, 'according to the good pleasure of his will;' 
and upon this principle the blessed Job saith, ' Thou visit- 
est man in the morning, and of a sudden thou provest 
him.'"* 

'' The ground of this vicissitude of comfort and distress, 
is in general this : the consolations of the Spirit are given 
to man, to enable him to bear the adversity of his fallen 
state ; and they are taken away, lest he be so much elevated 
with the gift, as to forget the giver. 

"After all, remember, that the devil slumbereth not, nor 
is the flesh yet dead. Be therefore continually prepared for 
contest ; for on the right hand and on the left, thou art beset 
with enemies that are never at rest." 

" Though a man give all his substance to feed the poor, 
it is nothing ; though he mortify the desires of flesh and 
blood by severe penance, still it is of little importance ; 
though he comprehend the vast extent of science, yet he is 
far behind ; and though he hath the splendor of illustrious 
virtue, and the ardor of exalted devotion, still he will want 
much, if he still wants this ' one thing needful,' this poverty 
of spirit, which, after abandoning the creatures about him, 
requires him to abandon himself; to go wholly out of him- 
self; to retain not the least leaven of self-love and self- 
esteem ; but, when he hath finished his course of duty, to 

* Job, vii. 18 — Vulgate version. 



THOxMAS A KEMPIS. 19t 

know and feel, with the same certainty as he feels the mo- 
tion of his heart, that he himself hath done nothing. Such 
a man will set no value upon those attainments, which, if 
under the power of self-love, he would highly esteem; but, 
in concurrence with the voice of Truth, ' when he has done 
all that is commanded him,' he will always freely pronounce 
himself 'an unprofitable servant.'" 

" There is no redemption, no foundation for the hope of 
the divine life, but in the cross.' Take up thy cross there- 
fore, and follow Jesus, in the path that leads to everlasting 
peace. He hath gone before, bearing that cross upon which 
he died for thee ; that thou mightest follow, patiently bear- 
ing thy own cross, and upon that die to thyself for him. 
And if we die with him, we shall also live with him ; ' if 
we are partakers of his sufferings, we shall be partakers 
also of his glory. ' " 

''Blessed is the soul that listeneth to the voice of the 
Lord, and from his own lips heareth the word of consola- 
tion I Blessed are the ears that receive the soft whispers 
of the divine breath, and exclude the noise and tumult of 
the world. Yea, truly blessed are they, when, deaf to the 
voice that soundeth without, they are attentive only to the 
Truth teaching within ! Blessed are the eyes that are shut 
to material objects, and open and fixed upon those that are 
spiritual. Blessed are they that examine the state of the 
inward man; and by continual exercises of repentance and 
faith, prepare the mind for a more comprehensive knowledge 
of the truths of redemption. Blessed are all, who delight in 
the service of God ; and who, that they may live purely 
to him, disengage their hearts from the cares and pleasures 
of the world." 

" The children of Israel once said to Moses,.' Speak thou 
with us, and we will hear ; let not God speak with us, lest 
we die.' I pray not in this manner. No, Lord, I pray not 



198 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

SO ; but, with the prophet Samuel, humbly and ardently 
entreat, 'Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.' Let not 
Moses speak to me, nor any of the prophets ; but speak 
thou, Lord God, the inspirer and enlightener of all the 
prophets; for thou alone, without their intervention, canst 
perfectly instruct me ; but without thee, they can profit me 
nothing. They indeed can pronounce the words, but can- 
not impart the Spirit. ... If thou art absent, they do not in- 
fluence the heart. They administer the letter, but thou 
openest the sense. They utter the mystery, but thou re- 
vealest its meaning. They publish thy laws, but thou 
conferrest the power of obedience. They point the way to 
life, but thou bestowest strength to walk in it. Their in- 
fluence is only external, but thou instructest and enlight- 
enest the mind. . They water, but thou givest the increase. 
Their voice soundeth in the ear, but it is thou that givest 
understanding to the heart." 

'* Some place their religion in books, some in images, 
and some in the pomp and splendor of external worship. 
These ' honor me ' (as said Christ) ' with their lips, but 
their heart is far from me.' But there are some, who with 
illuminated understandings discern the glory which man 
has lost, and with pure affection pant for its recovery. . . . 
These hear and understand what the Holy Spirit speaketh 
in their heart, exhorting them to withdraw their affection 
from things on earth, and set it 'on things above;' to 
abandon this fallen world, and day and night aspire after 
reunion with God." 

''I bless thee, heavenly Father, the Father of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, that thou hast vouchsafed to remember 
so poor and helpless a creature ! Father of mercies, and 
God of all consolation, I give thee most humble and ardent 
thanks, that, unworthy as I am of all comfort, thou hast 
been pleased to visit my benighted soul with the enliven- 



THOMAS A KEMPIS. 199 

ing beams of heavenly light! Blessing, and praise, and 
glory, be nnto thee, and thy only begotten Son, and thy 
Holy Spirit, the Comforter, forever and ever!" 

"I stand astonished, when I consider that 'the heavens 
are not clean in thy sight.' If thou hast found folly and 
impurity in angels, and hast not spared even them, what 
will become of me? If the stars have ' fallen from heaven,' 
if 'Lucifer, son of the morning,' hath not kept his place; 
shall I, wdio am but dust, dare to presume upon my own 
stability? 2vlany whose holiness had raised them to exalted 
honor, have been degraded most deeply by sin ; and those 
who have fed on the bread of angels, I have seen delighted 
with the husks of swine. There is, therefore, no holiness, 
if thou, Lord, withdraw thy presence ; no wisdom profiteth, 
if thy Spirit cease to direct ; no strength availeth without 
thy support ; no chastity is safe without thy protection ; 
no watchfulness effectual, \vhen thy holy vigilance is not 
our guard. For no sooner are we left to ourselves, than the 
waves of corruption rush upon us, and we sink and perish ; 
but if thou reach forth thy omnipotent hand, we walk upon 
the sea and live." 

"Bring my will, Lord, into true and unalterable sub- 
jection to thine, and do with me what thou pleasest ; for 
whatever is- done by thee, cannot but be good. If thou 
pourest thy light upon me, and turn est my night into day, 
blessed be thy name ! And if thou leavest me in darkness, 
blessed also be thy name ! If thou exaltest me with the 
consolations of thy Spirit, or humblest me under the afflic- 
tions of fallen nature, still may thy holy name be forever 
blessed ! 

" I am he (might Christ say) that exalteth the humble 
and simple mind, and suddenly imparteth to it such a per- 
ception of eternal truth, as it could not acquire by a life of 
laborious study in the schools of men. I teach not, like 



200 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

men, with the clamor of uncertain words, or the confusion 
of opposite opinions ; with vain learning, or the ostenta- 
tion of learning yet more vain ; or with the strife of formal 
disputation, in which victory is more contended for than 
truth. I teach, in still and soft whispers, to relinquish 
earth and seek after heaven; to loath carnal and temporal 
enjoyments, and sigh for spiritual and eternal ; to shun 
honor, and to bear contempt ; to place all hope and depend- 
ence upon me, to desire nothing besides me, and above all in 
heaven and on earth most ardently to love me. . . . Though 
my written word speaks the same language to all, yet, 
without me, it does not impart the same instruction. I, as 
the internal principle of light to angels and men, am the 
only teacher of divine truth. I search the heart, and com- 
prehend the most secret thoughts. I am the author and 
finisher of every good work ; and, for the ornament and 
perfection of my mystical body, I bestow upon the mem- 
bers of it ' a diversity of gifts, dividing to every man seve- 
rally as I will.' " 

'' I give thee thanks, Father of mercies, that thou hast 
not spared the evil that is in me ;. but hast humbled sinful 
nature by severe chastisements, inflicting pains, and accu- 
mulating sorrows, both from within and from without. 
And of all in heaven and on earth, there is non.e that can 
bring me comfort, but thou, Lord my God, the sovereign 
physician of diseased souls ; ' who woundest and healest, 
who bringest down to the grave and raisest up again.' 
Thy chastisement is upon me, and thy rod shall teach me 
wisdom !" 

" From self-love, as the corrupt stock, are derived the 
numerous branches of that evil, which forms the trials of 
man in his struggles for redemption ; and when this stock 
is plucked up by the roots, holiness and peace will be im- 
planted in its room, and flourish forever with unfading 



THOMAS A KEMPIS. 201 

verdure. But liow few labor at this extirpation ! How 
few seek to obtain that divine life which can only rise from 
tb€ death of self! And thus men lie bound in the com- 
plicated chains of animal passions, unwilling, and there- 
fore unable to rise above the selfish enjoyments of flesh 
and blood. But he that desireth to follow Christ in the 
regeneration with an enlarged heart, must endeavor to 
suppress and kill the evil appetites and passions of his 
fallen nature ; and not by a partial fondness, which hath 
its birth from self-love, adhere to any creature " 

''Come then, Meekness of the Lamb of God ! thou who 
makest the poor in spirit rich in goodness, and the rich in 
goodness poor in spirit ; oh come, descend into my soul, 
and fill it with the light and comfort of thy blessed pres- 
ence, lest it faint and perish in the darkness and barrenness 
of its fallen state !" 

" Come, my beloved brethren, let us take courage, and 
hand in hand pursue our journey in the path of life. Jesus 
will be with us ! For Jesus' sake we have taken up the 
cross ; and for Jesus' sake we will persist in bearing it. He, 
who is our captain and our guide, will be our strength and 
our support. Behold, our King, who will fight our battles, 
leads the way! Let us resolutely follow, undismayed by 
any terrors-; and let us choose death, rather than stain the 
glory of which we are made partakers, by deserting the 
cross." 

Finally, " 'unto thee,' therefore, 'do I lift up mine eyes, 
O thou that dwellest in the heavens !' In thee, my Grod, 
the Father of mercies, I place all my confidence ! Oh, 
illuminate and sanctify my soul with the influence of thy 
Holy Spirit ; that being delivered from all the darkness and 
impurity of its alienated life, which thine eyes cannot look 
upon, it may become the living temple of thy holy presence, 
the seat of thy eternal glory! In the immensity of thy 



202 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

goodness, O Lord! and 'in the multitude of thy tender mer- 
cies,' turn unto me, and hear the prayer of thy poor ser- 
vant, who has wandered far from thee into the region of the 
shadow of death ! Oh, protect and keep my soul, amidst 
the innumerable evils which this corruptible life is always 
bringing forth; and by the perpetual guidance of thy grace, 
lead me in the narrow path of holiness, to the realms of 
everlasting light and peace ! Amen!" 



CHAPTER XL 

JOHNRUCHRATH, OFWESEL. 

Perhaps no one in the fifteenth century more clearly saw 
and more indignantly protested against the corruptions of 
practice and morals which had crept in during the middle 
ages, than John Ruchrath. He is generally styled John 
of Wesel, from the town of Ober Wesel on the banks of the 
Rhine, which was his birth-place ; but as this was not his 
true name, and has the disadvantage of confounding him 
with a subsequent reformer, John Wessel, it seems prefer- 
able to designate him by the name of his birth and parent- 
age, Ruchrath, or Richrath. 

He was born probably about the year 1410, but the pre- 
cise period has not come down to us, neither have we any 
information of his early education. Ullmann, from whom 
we derive the particulars now presented respecting him, 
and who has industriously collected together all that could 
be found in regard to him, says that he first appears in his- 
tory at the University of Erfurt, in Thuringia. It is sup- 
posed that he commenced his studies there about the year 
1440, as he graduated in 1445 as Master of Arts. He en- 



JOHN RUCIIRATH. 203 

teredthe clerical profession, but without taking the monastic 
vow ; and in process of time became one of the professors 
in that university, and took the degree of Doctor of Divinity 
about the year 1456. He is said to have been greatly dis- 
tinguished as a preacher ; and Martin Luther, who many 
years afterwards studied at the same school, gives this tes- 
timony respecting him : "John Wesalia ruled the university 
hy his books; and it was out of these that I studied for my 
Master's degree." 

The year 1450 was distinguished throughout western 
Europe as a great Jubilee, by order of Pope Nicolaus V. 
Yery great multitudes made pilgrimage to Rome, under 
the superstitious belief, that, according to a bull issued 
by a previous pope on a similar occasion, "every one 
who should, during that year, visit with reverence the 
churches of the apostles Peter and Paul in Rome, and there 
do penance and confess his sin, should obtain the very 
fullest forgiveness of all his sins; the citizens to visit 
them once a day for thirty days, and foreigners for fifteen 
days." This scheme of the priests had brought, it is said, 
no less than 200,000 poor deluded pilgrims to the city dur- 
ing the first year of its appointment (viz. a.d. 1300), and 
continued to attract great crowds, and brought incalculable 
.gain to the. citizens of Rome and to the papal treasury. 
But the pope in the Jubilee of 1450 v/as not satisfied with 
confining the profits of its celebration within the city of 
Rome. Knowing that vast multitudes were not able to 
leave their homes in distant parts of Europe for so great a 
journey, he adopted a substitute for the pilgrimage, by the 
sale of Indulgences to such as were under the necessity of 
remaining at their homes; and sent forth the Cardinal Nico- 
laus of Gusa into Germany, to " collect the gifts made by 
the penitent," and to preach the great efficacy of the spirit- 
ual favors now offered to the poor people for their money. 



204 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

This man, as lie travelled from place to place, attended by 
a meagre retinue to simulate povert}^ or humility, and 
mounted on a mule, was everywhere received by the 
princes, the clergy, and the common people, with the ut- 
most reverence, and escorted with songs of praise into the 
places where he preached or celebrated mass. Among 
other places he visited Erfurt, where he preached several 
times with the usual solemnities, and doubtless with the 
usual success to his simoniacal trade. John Ruchrath 
probably was one of his hearers ; but if so, the effect of what 
he then witnessed appears to have confirmed him in his 
sentiments of the entire inconsistency of such a practice 
with the gospel of Christ; for he soon afterwards com- 
pleted a work on which he had been some months engaged, 
viz. his Disputation against Indulgences. 

It would be incompatible with our limits, to go at length 
into an explanation of the manner in which this abominable 
abuse gradually crept into the Romish system of operations. 
The doctrine of Indulgences ran its course for centuries 
before it reached its acme. We may briefly condense its 
successive stages, from the somewhat elaborate descrip- 
tion of Ullmann. 

Indulgence was originally a remission of penance, or eccle- 
siastical pains and penalties. The early church exercised* 
so strict a watch over the purity of its. members, as to ex- 
clude from communion all who were openly guilty of sin. 
In order to readmission, a series of penitential discipline 
was imposed, often wearisome and severe. If evidences of 
true amendment were distinctly visible, the severity of the 
discipline might be mitigated, or its duration abridged ; and 
this was the commencement of remission or indulgence. 
This penitential discipline, at first imposed on excommuni- 
cated persons for their readmission, was eventually ex- 
tended to all delinquents. It seems to have greatly pro- 



JOHN RUCHRATH. 205 

moted, in its course, the doctrine of satisfaction by good 
works, so prevalent in the western church during the mid- 
dle ages ; and in its turn to have derived great strength 
from that doctrine ; for its supposed efficacy was gradually 
extended from a matter of church discipline to the remission 
of sin in the view of the Almighty himself. In order to 
favor this extended view of the doctrine, the idea was pro- 
mulgated that the authorities of the church, possessing the 
power of the keys from Christ, possessed also a treasury to 
be opened by those keys; containing the supererogatory or 
superabundant merits of Christ and the saints, for distribu- 
tion among the penitent. It was alleged that as " even one 
drop of the blood of Christ would have sufficed to expiate 
the guilt of all mankind, and as he shed infinitely more 
than one drop,"* the rest had, along vv^ith a similar super- 
abundance of meritorious works on the part of the saints, 
beyond what was necessary for their own salvation, been 
mercifully treasured up and granted by the Almighty to 
the keeping of the. church, and especially to the Pope, as 
Christ's vicar, for the salvation of souls that have no merit 
of their own. It was after a while alleged that such was 
the plenitude of the grace thus kept in store, that it might 
even be made available for the souls which were under- 
going purification in Purgatory, and might thus shorten the 
period of their purgation ! 

Albert, surnamed The Great, who died about the year 
1280, thus advocated the doctrine of Indulgence, as "the 
remission of some imposed punishment or penance, pro- 
ceeding from the power of the keys and the treasure of the 
superfluous merits of the perfect. A penalty," he thought, 
"can only be remitted to a party by whom it is due, on 
condition that some other party, who has done more than 
was obligatory upon him, furnishes an equivalent for it; 
••'■ Alexander of Hales, as quoted by Ullmann. 

10 



200 llEFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

and this more is kept in store in the treasure belonging to 
the church, and containing the fullness of the merits of 
Christ and the saints. Some," he says, "imagine that In- 
dulgence has no efficacy at all, and is merely a pious fraud 
[and no wonder they did !], by which men are enticed to 
the performance of good works, such as pilgrimages and 
alms-giving. These, however, reduce the action of the 
church to child's play, and fall into heresy. Others, carry- 
ing the contrary opinion farther than is necessary, assert 
that Indulgence at once and unconditionally accomplishes 
all that is expressed in it, and thus make the divine mercy 
diminish the fear of judgment. The true medium is," says 
he, ''that Indulgence has that precise amount of efficacy 
which the church assigns to it." [Comfortable doctrine to 
those who wished implicitly and blindly to rely upon it] 

Thomas Aquinas, about the same period, was one of the 
strongest advocates of the efficacy of Indulgences ; and in 
attempting to prove it, alleges "that the church in general 
is infallible, and as it sanctions and practises Indulgence, 
Indulgence must be valid. This, Thomas is persuaded, all 
admit, because there would be impiety in representing any 
act of the church as nugatory!" — "The reason of its effi- 
cacy," he says, "lies in the oneness of the mystical body, 
within which there are many who, as respects works of 
penitence, have done more than they were under obligation 
to do ; for instance, many who have patiently endured un- 
deserved sufferings sufficient to expiate a great amount of 
penalties. In fact, so vast is the sum of these merits, that 
it greatly exceeds the measure of the guilt of all the living, 
especially when augmented by the merit of Christ." It 
may be safe to say that no more monstrous perversion of 
the doctrine of salvation through the mercy of God in 
Christ Jesus was ever invented by the agents of antichrist, 
to delude the hearts of the simple, and make merchandise 



JOHN RUCHRATH. 207 

of the gospel. Ullmann says that " during the fourteenth 
centmy, Indulgences were multiplied from the most multi- 
farious causes, and more and more came to be granted for 
money. At last, indeed, a regular list of prices was drawn 
out, so that what had been already treated in theory as 
a sort of traffic with ecclesiastical blessings, now also as- 
sumed in practice the shape of a mercantile transaction ; 
and the business was carried on with a punctuality and at- 
tention which would have done honor to the first commer- 
cial house in the world." — "Many of the preachers of In- 
dulgence, in order to promote its sale, extolled its efficacy 
upon both the hving and the dead, by arguments which 
either absolutely omitted, or at least cast into the shade, all 
rehgious and moral requirements." 

John Ruchrath, in the introduction to his Treatise 
against this abuse, takes the ground that neither in Holy 
Scripture, nor in the writings of the early and most cele- 
brated teachers for several hundred years, is a word to be 
found respecting Indulgence, He afterward through the 
work stands upon this ground, and affirms it as his persua- 
sion, that if in the writings of subsequent authorities any- 
thing is found contrary to the testimony of Scripture, it is 
not to be received as true merely because it has high 
human authority. He declares himself entirely opposed to 
the belief in any treasure of merits from the saints, quoting 
the Scripture testimony that "their works do follow them." 
He endeavors to instill more correct ideas than at that time 
prevailed, respecting the nature of sin and repentance, and 
forgiveness through the grace of God. He takes a position 
in advance of the doctrine of the Romish writers, yet still 
not clear of entanglement with the notion of the power of 
priests to grant absolution. He says that in offenses 
against the church, there is also an offense against God ; 
and that "He can forgive the offender his sin, even when 



208 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

the offended party refuses to do it. If from this point of 
view, then, we contemplate the plenary power of pardon 
committed to priests, it is evident that no priest can dis- 
pense pardon originally and effectively, but only by the 
divine assistance, which lies in the communication of 
grace." He lays, says Ullmann, a marked stress upon the 
principle, that there is no virtue in "the sacrament of peni- 
tence," to produce any effect, prior to the communication 
of grace. Aware that in this opinion he differs from many 
masters and teachers, he yet says that he cannot help it, 
because the honor of God constrains him; requiring as that 
seems to do, that God alone, of his pure goodness, should 
be the author and giver of grace. 

It seems scarcely needful to follow him through the 
course of his reasoning on the subject of sin and forgive- 
ness, inasmuch as his views are evidently mixed up with 
those of the age respecting penance and purgatory. They 
seem somewhat like the efforts of a man who sees in de- 
gree the grossness of the popular errors, but is depending 
too much on his own attainments and powers to compre- 
hend with entire clearness the mysteries of redeeming love 
and mercy through Christ. In his 51st chapter, he calls 
Indulgences "a pious fraud practised upon believers," in 
inducing them to make pilgrimages, give money for pious 
purposes, etc., under the notion that they will be thereby 
absolved from the penalties due to them for their sins; 
yet he does not deny that a degree of merit may attach to 
those who comply with the requisitions or terms stated in the 
Indulgences, if done in the love of God and a spirit of piety. 

After proving that Indulgences are not warranted by 
anything in Scripture, he turns to the allegation of the ad- 
vocates of the doctrine, that the church has sanctioned it, 
and the church being infallible. Indulgence must be valid. 
To this he replies, "that the Catholic church is infallible, 



JOHN RUCHRATH. 209 

is a mere assertion, in support of which no proof is ad- 
vanced either from reason or Scripture." And he en- 
deavors to draw the distinction between the Catholic or 
Universal church, as it exists as a gathered and visible 
body, and that portion of it which is truly the church of 
Christ, being founded on a rock, and against which the 
gates of hell shall never prevail. " Inasmuch," he says, 
"as this church (the Christian church in a narrower sense) 
is holy and undefiled, there exists no error in it, none at 
least self-induced, because that would be a spot or wrinkle :" 
but that the Universal church, as it is found mixed with 
the world and in part composed of wicked men, does err, 
and that therefore the argument of the infallibility of the 
Catholic church (applying as it does to only a part of it) is 
inconclusive. He concludes that the proposition, that the 
church grants Indulgence, comes from that part of the 
church which does err, and that the church ought not to 
dispense it, because it is founded upon error. 
^ On the whole, though his reasoning appears in many re- 
spects much entangled with some of the errors which he 
still adhered to, yet the treatise was a bold and great ad- 
vance beyond the superstition of the age, and doubtless 
had considerable effect in moulding the opinions of think- 
ing men toward those convictions which ripened into the 
reformation of the sixteenth century. 

About ten years after completing this work, John Ruch- 
rath was called from Erfurt to occupy the position of a 
preacher at Mayence, at the confluence of the Rhine and 
Mayn. But it is said that he left his post there, not long 
afterwards, from fear of a pestilence then raging. If this 
were the case, it seems to indicate, either that he was con- 
vinced that his call thither had been defective, or that he 
had not that living faith which would have sustained him 
in an honest endeavor to discharge what might be really 



210 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

required of him, as a pastor of the flock, through a trying 
dispensation. 

He then obtained a similar position in the city of Worms, 
which he occupied for seventeen years. Here he was con- 
sidered an effective and fervent preacher, though perhaps 
not always a discreet one. He saw more and more clearly 
into the corruptions which prevailed among the monks and 
in the clerical body at large ; and while here he published 
his most celebrated work, "Concerning the Authority, 
Duty, and Power of Pastors ;" a work which gave great 
offense to those whose easy nests were stirred up and ex- 
posed by it. He attacked the corrupt priests with great 
boldness. '' The church," said he, " has lapsed so far from 
true piety into a certain kind of Jewish superstition, that 
wherever we turn our eyes, we see nothing but an empty 
and ostentatious display of works, void of the least spark 
of faith; the Pharisaic pride of Rabbis, cold ceremonies, 
and vain superstition, not to call it idolatry. All seem in- 
tent on reaping a golden harvest, pursue only their own 
interest, and totally neglect the duties of Christian piety."* 
Again, " It is certainly a hard task to be one of the princes 
and rulers of the people ; for they have to answer not merely 
for their own sins, but also for the errors of others ; and if 
men would reflect on this, they would never canvass for the 
office of a ruler or pastor, nor pursue or purchase it with gold, 
but would wait the call of the Lord; for they who obtain 
this dignity without vocation are, according to the language 
of our Saviour, thieves and robbers, having entered in by 
another way and not by the door of Christ. The preachers 
of eternal wisdom ought to be the salt of the earth. ' But 
if the salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall it be 
salted ? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast 
out and trodden under foot of men.' If the doctrine of 

* UUmann, from whom this account is chiefly compiled. 



JOHN RUCHRATH. 211 

priests and prelates be not the doctrine of Christ, it ought 
to be rejected and trampled in the dust ; so little is it our 
duty to listen to pastors, who would fain besprinkle and 
season us with salt that has lost its virtue. Rare as a 
black swan, is the priest who discharges the apostolical 
office with apostolical fidelity. And the reason is, because 
the Word of the Lord is fettered by human devices, and 
cannot be freely preached. Tyrann}^ and oppression on 
every side cry out against it, and the ordinances of many 
bishops oppose it ; not to speak of the legends of the saints, 
the imposture of indulgences, the labors of fraternities, 
which one must in every way extol to the skies, in order 
to enjoy favor, and escape the chance of losing one's stipu- 
lated pay. ' Speak to as what we like to hear,' say the 
people in their folly, ' or w^e will call down the wrath of 
God upon your head.' The consequence is, that, as good 
pastors either hide in a corner, or are proscribed and shame- 
fully banished, the great major-ity discharge their office with 
no other view but to feed themselves and not the sheep, 
and seek to promote their own interests instead of nourish- 
ing them. Nay, sometimes, not satisfied with their wool 
and milk, they flay and wholly devour them. How ex- 
treme the misery of the Christian flock ! The little ones 
call for bread, and there is no one to give it them. They 
seek for water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth 
for thirst." 

" It is the duty of a Christian man," he says in another 
place, " to exercise not power, but love, over those whom he 
governs ; measuring all with one line, viz.: the communion 
of faith and the confession of Christian charity. In this 
religion there is no difference, the righteousness of God 
which is by faith in Jesus Christ being in all and upon all 
them that believe. They have made thee a prince, saith 
the Scripture, therefore exalt not thyself, but be as one of 



212 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

them. Yea, the Lord commands, ' Whoever will be chief 
among you, let him be your servant.' — 'The ruler,' says 
Jerome, ' ought, by his humility, to be the companion of 
them that do well, and by his zeal for justice, to stand 
boldly up against the sins of the wicked, yet so as never to 
prefer himself to the good. ' " 

He places before every other requirement this, that the 
preacher should deliver, unalloyed and uncurtailed, the 
pure gospel according to Holy Scripture. "It is clear," he 
says, " that he only who teaches the word of the Lord is a 
true apostle and pastor. Whoever delivers a contrary doc- 
trine is not to be believed." — "Whoever teaches that 
Christ has been made unto us for righteousness, the same 
is a teacher whom the Lord has given." — "As the law 
is not given for the righteous, but for the unrighteous 
and unbelieving, every one has, in the Holy Spirit, a leader 
who is above the law. For there is no other fulSlling of 
the law, but the shedding abroad of the love of God in the 
heart. He who has obtained this has become one spirit 
with God, and can say with the apostle, 'I live, yet not I, 
but Christ liveth in me.'" — "Whoever does the work of 
the law, even as respects its moral requirements, only in 
consequence of the law's constraint, keeps it in a more 
carnal way, and does not really satisfy its demands ; but 
whoever, from the spirit of faith, and with a willing mind, 
executes the law's work, even as respects outward things, 
for him alone is the law truly spiritual. This genuine ful- 
fillment of the law is the gift of that Spirit by whom every 
pious man is certainly actuated." 

We must be indulged in a few more extracts, to show 
the bold character of his invectives against the carnal 
clergy. 

"I despise," he says, "as a vain mask, the name and 
title, the honor and quality of whomsoever they may be, 



JOHN RUCHRATH. 213 

were it even an angel, not to speak of the pope, or a human 
being, provided they do not utter the words of life, but 
merely vaunt their office and dignity, and pretend that by 
these they have received authority to ordain what they 
please. Christ himself despised all this in the apostleship 
of the traitor Judas ; and Paul would have all honor with- 
held even from angels, unless they minister as messengers 
of Christ. — So far am I from believing that outward show, 
and vain splendor, and pompous words, and the heathen 
salutation of Master, have any weight." 

'^ The Apostle Paul himself claimed the belief of men 
solely for the sake of the gospel entrusted to him by God, 
not on account of his person, and not for the weight of his 
name. Even he aspires to be no more than a minister, 
apostle, and herald, and glories so little in what he suffers 
for the gospel, that he declares it to be folly to speak of his 
labors. Before such a pattern, let the flatterers, whom the 
Bishop of Rome permits to honor him with the titles of 
'Holy' and 'Most Holy,' be silent and not breathe a 
word." 

" The man from whom I hear nothing of Christ's right- 
eousness, and in whom I perceive no insight and knowledge, 
I refuse to confess as a master ; I own not in him the au- 
thority of a- bishop, nor reverence him as a pastor. — I care 
not for the two-horned mitre — the shining infula affects 
not me — I abominate the priestly slippers decorated with 
precious stones and gold. High-sounding names are mere 
semblances, and anything rather than the badges of a true 
pastor, bishop, or teacher, when that is lacking which alone 
gives them worth, and renders them tolerable." 

In reply to the plea of antiquity, for the papal traditions 
and devices, he says : ' It is an argument easily parried by 
any one who reflects that the Babylonian Empire is not 
commended for having stood for several centuries. — Be- 

10* 



214 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

sides, the Lord curses those who, for the sake of human 
traditions, transgress the divine commands. They who 
burden the people with new precepts show themselves not 
ambassadors of God and stewards of his word, but as- 
sume the airs of masters and usurp dominion. Wherefore, 
dear brethren, let us follow the exhortation of the apostle, 
and be no longer children, tossed to and fro by every wind 
of doctrine. We have a right to require from the pope and 
the priests, as successors of Christ and the apostles, the 
word of G-od [the pure doctrine of the gospel]. If they 
feed us with that, let us listen to them — but if not, then 
will we not admit them to dwell in our hearts, that so we 
may not seem to have fellowship with their wicked works 
and lying words." 

" Let every one to whom a pastoral charge is entrusted, 
hear the words of the apostle, * Feed the flock of Christ, 
not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of 
a ready mind ; neither as being lords over God's heritage, 
but being ensamples to the flock.' Nowadays however 
(alas for the mischief !) there are in the church more who 
feast and hunt than who labor, and who in this respect are 
very different from the apostle, who sought not gifts but 
fruit. — Not only is the salvation of souls httle attended to; 
it is not attended to at all. The prelates ought not to be 
lords over God's heritage — but servants and stewards of 
the mysteries, even as Christ, the true Lord and Shepherd, 
took upon him the form of a servant, and bequeathed to us 
an example of humble ministering." 

'' The zeal with which the Saviour sought to extinguish 
ambition may be inferred from the fact, that he does not 
leave his followers at liberty to take a name designative of 
pre-eminence, but expressly forbids them to assume the 
proud titles of Master and Lord. For this reason 1 am 
often surprised that these names have found their way to 



JOHN RTJCHRATH, 215 

the spiritual heads of the church, and that theologians and 
philosophers assume them as their peculiar priYilege ; 
although there is but One who is our Lord and Master, 
and in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and 
knowledge ; not to speak of the blasphemous and fulsome 
titles of most wise, most venerable, most blessed, vicar of 
C4irist, hero, demigod, and even most godly, with which his 
flatterers fawn upon the pope, and which, considering the 
self-love of man, can scarcely fail to make him vain of his 
ornaments, and lead him to exult and fancy himself beauti- 
ful." 

With respect to divine worship, he remarks : " Behold, 
Christian brother, how the whole face of the primitive 
church of Christ has been changed ! It is considered 
priestly merely to move the lips, and coldly and unin- 
telligently to mumble the prayers. It is thought a glorious 
thing when the deacons in churches hr ay forth i\\Q gospels 
and epistles. They only are considered to have done their 
part well, and gain the public applause, who, in chanting, 
lift their voice to the loudest pitch. jNTone cares whether 
the psalm is likewise sung with the spirit and the heart; 
so that one is disposed to believe that theirs is no mistake 
who look upon human life as a comedy, and imagine that 
this is nowhere more manifest than in thechurch, and among 
the clergy." 

Respecting the duty of obedience to superiors, he says : 
"I acknowledge the authority of rulers, in things which 
may be required of us without prejudice to piety. In such 
cases we have the example of Christ ; for although bound 
by no law, he yet paid tribute to Caesar; and in such cases 
no less do the apostles recommend obedience." But when 
rulers "inculcate things which are diametrically opposed to 
the law of charity and good will," he says, ''we must obey 
God rather than man, and with bodv and soul resile from 



216 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

that which the princes enjoin, that we may not appear to 
have fellowship with their wicked works. It will even be 
lawful to protest, to resist them in season and out of season, 
and openly to rebuke them.— We have examples of such 
conduct in the prophets, apostles, and martyrs, nay iii 
Christ himself." 

These were certainly very remarkable sentiments to be 
put forth in that age. " He had," says IJllmann, *' penetrated 
to the centre of Christianity, to the very essence of the 
gospel, to the righteousness, spirit, and life of Christ, in 
short, to that Saviour who, to all who embrace him by 
living faith, becomes a source of peace, love, and true 
morality. He recognized the love which is the offspring of 
faith, as the sole true fulfilling of the law ; and this knowl- 
edge, embraced w4th his whole soul, gave him confidence 
and alacrity, both to labor undauntedly amid the difficulties 
of the present, and hopefully and joyfully to anticipate the 
future. He knew that the word of God was not held in 
great esteem, and that it could scarcely be preached except 
at the risk of life. Against this, however, he sought to 
steel his mind. He says, ' The language of our Rabbis is 
like that of the Jews in the days of the Saviour : Thou 
wast altogether born in sin, and dost thou teach us? How 
odious and intolerable to these proud and inflated Moabites 
is a preacher of Christ ! Their cry is — 

'Dii nostris istas terris avertite pestes !' 

If, however, thou art enjoined to teach evangelical piety, 
than which nothing is so greatly disrelished, then suffer 
not thyself to be frightened and discouraged by the papal 
fulminations, curses, and interdicts. From bulls (made of 
paper and of lead), they dart but a harmless flash. The 
excommunicator was himself under excommunication by 
the Divine Judge, before he uttered his sentence ; and with 
a curse upon his own head, he has no power to excommu- 



JOHN RUCHRATH. 217 

nicate others. There is therefore much greater cause to 
fear the curse which says, ' Woe unto you v/ho call evil 
good, and good evil,' than that which human tyranny pre- 
sumes to utter." 

He seems to have looked forward to a time of deliverance 
for the afflicted church. " Come it will ;" he says: " Our 
souls will perish with hunger, unless from on high some 
star of mercy rise, and dispel the darkness, and clear our 
eyes from the delusions with which they are bewitched by 
the falsehood of our rulers, and restore the light, and at 
last, after so many years, break the yoke of our Babylonish 
captivity. — Deliver, God ! thy people from all their tribu- 
lations!" 

These few extracts will show the spirit and tenor of this 
extraordinary work. In his sermons he was no less bold 
in declaiming against many human ordinances and customs 
by which religion had been burdened. " The style of his 
preaching," says TJllmann, " was, in many respects, of dis- 
tinguished excellence. He possessed intellect, fervor, and 
vivacity. — The effects which he produced, and the celebrity 
which he attained, give us ground to conclude that his 
gifts were considerable. But pure and irreproachable as a 
preacher he certainly was not. His boldness sometimes de- 
generated into arrogance, his popularity into pungent and 
provoking jests, such as, making all allowance for the rude 
spirit of the age, we cannot consider but as too strong for a 
man of otherwise so earnest a character. When (for instance) 
combatting the exaggerated estimate which was formed of 
priestly rites, such as unction with consecrated oil, he would 
venture to say, ' The consecrated oil is no better than that 
which is in daily use in your kitchens,' etc." — Yet it may 
be that some eccentricities of this character have been more 
or less exaggerated by those who put them forth, in that 
day, as specimens of the ''Paradoxes" of the preacher, who 



218 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

SO greatly roused the minds of the people, and kindled the 
animosity of the monks. ' 

For about seventeen years he continued to promulgate, 
in the city of Worms, his views of the corrupted condition 
of the Eomish church, and the great need of a reformation. 
Would that he had been endued with that fortitude and 
living faith, in a time of trial, which would have enabled 
him to seal his testimony with the offering up of his natural 
life for Christ and his gospel. But now comes the dark 
side of the picture. The monks and clerical body were en- 
raged at his continued attacks and exposures ; and the 
bishop, Reinhard of Sickingen, a man of very different 
character from his predecessor, Matthew of Cracow, be- 
came determined to put a stop to invectives which he doubt- 
less felt were partly aimed at himself John Ruchrath was 
accused of heresy, and charged with cherishing familiarity 
with Jews (then greatly hated and persecuted), and with 
the followers of John Huss. It is supposed that the charge 
of his favoring the Jews, was occasioned either by his pity 
for them under their cruel treatment by the populace, or by 
his seeking from some of them instruction in the Hebrew 
language, which at that time could not be obtained else- 
where. As regards the Hussites, there is no reason to 
doubt that he was convinced of the truth of some at least 
of their opinions ; and he had probably manifested it by 
correspondence with certain of their number. 

On these charges, in the beginning of 14*79, he was ar- 
rested, and arraigned before a Court of Inquisition held in 
the city of Mayence, the seat of the archbishopric. The 
Court of Inquisition, with the archbishop, met at the Con- 
vent of the Minorites, where Ruchrath was in prison, and 
summoned him to renounce his errors and plead for mercy. 
John was now^ old and infirm, and rendered weak also by 
sickness. He came before them between two Minorite 



JOHN RUCHRATH. 219 

friars, pale, looking like a corpse, and supported by a staff. 
Instead of offering the old man a comfortable seat in his 
weakness and distress, a place in the centre, exactly oppo- 
site the archbishop and chief Inquisitor, was pointed out to 
him, where he might sit down on the floor. The Inquis- 
itor Gerard Elten then addressed to him in person the offer 
of mercy. He was about to reply in his own defense, when 
he was interrupted by Elten, who told him to be brief m 
what he said, and to declare at once whether he meant still 
to adhere to his opinions, or was willing to subject himself 
to the decision of the church. He rephed, that he had 
never taught anything contrary to the decisions of the 
church ; and that if in his writings he had erred or said 
w^hat was wrong, he was willing to recant, and to do what- 
ever was right. On this he was asked: " Do you then ask 
mercy?" to which he answered, ''Why should I ask mercy, 
having as yet been convicted of no crime, fault, or error?" 
"Well," said Elten, "we shall recall it to your remem- 
brance, and commence the examination." Other members 
of the Court then joined in exhorting John to sue for 
mercy, probably suggesting to his mind the terror of the 
flames, to which he would otherwise undoubtedly be com- 
mitted. At last he uttered the words, "I ask for mercy." 
This, however, weakened himself, and did not satisfy his 
judges, who concluded to proceed with the examination. 
They put to him, during two days, a great number of en- 
tangling interrogations, many of them of so trifling or 
irrelevant a nature that it is not worth while here to dwell 
upon them. To some of them he appears to have answered 
weakly or somewhat ambiguously ; to others with candor 
and firmness. 

Being asked whether he believed that infants, before 
birth, are yet without original sin, he replied that he cer- 
tainly believed so. This was considered very heretical. 



220 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

To the question, whether he believed or had written, that 
there are no kinds of mortal sin, except those which are 
designated as such in the Bible? — he replied that he did 
believe this, and will believe it till better taught. 

Being asked whether he had written a book on Indul- 
gence, and what he believes on the subject, he answered, 
that he had written such a treatise, and believes what is 
therein contained. He had replied to a query, that he did 
believe that the Bishop of Borne was Christ's Yicar ; but 
being afterward queried of, respecting the vice-gerency of 
Christ upon earth, he answered, that he did not believe 
that Christ had left any vice-gerent, and appealed for proof 
to what Christ himself said w^hen about (as to his bodily 
presence) to leave the world : "Lo, I am with you always; " 
inasmuch as these words distinctly intimated that he did 
not intend to appoint any one as his substitute, because it 
was his will to be present, and do everything himself; and 
added, that '* if a vicar signifies one who in the Master's 
absence is to perform his work, then Christ has no vicar 
upon earth." 

Being interrogated, what were his sentiments respecting 
the consecration and benediction of altars and cups, orna- 
ments, lights, palms, herbs, " holy water," and other things, 
he replied that he believed there was no virtue in them to 
drive away evil spirits, or to effect the, forgiveness of venal 
sins ; and that " holy water" had no more efficacy than 
other or common water. 

On the second day of the examination, he declared, 
" Though all forsake Christ, I, though I should do it alone, 
will adore Him as the Son of God, and continue a Chris- 
tian." To which the Inquisitor answered, ''All heretics 
say the same, even when already fastened to the stake." 
Being urged to ask for mercy in regard to his errors, after 
considerable colloquy he at length told them that they 



JOHN RUCHRATH. 221 

were compelling him to confess and sue for pardon, and 
added, ''Well then, I do ask for mercy." Upon which he 
was told that this was not satisfactory, but that he must 
come voluntarily and ask for it ; and he was again con- 
ducted to prison. 

The next day he was visited in his prison by a deputa- 
tion of three doctors from the Court, who came to exhort 
him to recant. He replied, " Ought I to act contrary to 
my conscience?" The deputies said, "No, for the articles 
are false, as you see yourself." John replied, " You say 
so, indeed, but you do not prove it." The deputies assured 
him they were sentiments which were condemned by the 
church, and questioned him respecting some other points 
of his belief. After much conversation, John finally de- 
clared that he would recant, if they would take the respon- 
sibility upon their own consciences ; to which, of course, 
they readily assented. Here it is sorrowfully evident that 
he gave away what little strength he had. left, to save 
himself from the punishment which he saw impending. 

The day after, a form of recantation was presented to 
him, and he expressed his willingness to comply. Accord- 
ingly, about seven in the morning of the following day, 
the archbishop and chief Inquisitor, the doctors, prelates, 
and many of- the clergy and laity, assembled in the refec- 
tory of the Minorites ; and, after an harangue from GJ-erard 
Elten the Inquisitor, Ruchrath, with fear and trembling, 
but in a distinct voice, uttered the following words : "Most 
honorable Father in Christ, Archbishop of this renowned 
diocese, reverend father Inquisitor, and you, doctors, mas- 
ters, and other reverend gentlemen, I voluntarily confess 
that errors have been found in my writings and sermons. 
These errors I now recant, and am also ready to recant 
them publicly. I submit myself to the commandments of 
the holy mother church, and to the tuition of the doctors. 



222 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

I will endure the penance which has been imposed upon 
me, and I supplicate forgiveness and mercy." 

Thus, through unwatchfulness, did Satan get the advan- 
tage, and thus weaMj fell John of Wesel, after many years 
of advocacy of the truth, according to the measure to which 
he had attained. 

After being somewhat further questioned, he declared 
himself ready to recant and abjure publicly in the Cathe- 
dral ; but entreated that he might be allowed some decent 
place of habitation, instead of being sent again to the dark 
and filthy prison. The Inquisitor, however, would not 
permit this change until after his public recantation. This 
was accomplished on the following day before the people ; 
after which he had doubtless expected to be set at liberty. 
But his enemies, who had him now completely in their 
own hands, were far from being satisfied with a mere re- 
cantation. His writings were condemned to be committed 
to the flames from which he had barely escaped; and he 
was sentenced to be confined for the rest of his life in the 
Augustinian Monastery at Mayence. 

It does not really appear that his judgment was con- 
vinced or convicted of error in his teachings ; for when he 
beheld his writings carried to the fire, remembering the 
good sentiments contained in them, and how much labor 
they had cost him, he wept bitterly, and exclaimed, "Oh, 
thou Grod of mercy, must all the many good things I have 
written bear the punishment due to the little that was evil ? 
Such is not thy sentence, thou God ! who wast read}^ at 
Abraham's praj^er to have spared an innumerable multi- 
tude for the sake of ten righteous. It is the sentence of 
men, inflamed against me with I know not what zeal !" 

What must have been the feehngs which forced them- 
selves upon the mind of such a man, as during the ensuing 
two years he looked back upon his former faithfulness to 



JOHN WESSEL. 223 

his convictions ! May we not hope that through the mercy 
of the Most High, he was brought to see the nature of his 
dereliction, and led to ask for a renewal of that divine favor 
and acceptance, which he had slighted in cringing to the 
power of the false church ? He died in his place of con- 
finement in the 3^ear 1481. 



CHAPTER Xir. 

JOHN WESSEL. 

John Wessel was born about the year 1419 or 1420, at 
Groningen in Friesland. His parents were respectable 
citizens, his father, Herman Wessel, being by occupation 
a baker, and his mother descended from a family of good 
repute in the town. But losing both of them in early 
youth, he was kindly cared for by a benevolent matron of 
good estate, who educated him along with her own son. 
John was lame in one foot, having the ankle distorted; 
which circumstance may have promoted an inclination, as 
he grew up, to sedentary and scientific or literary pursuits. 
He was placed for some time in a school at Groningen, and 
afterward in the institution of the "_ Brethren of the Com- 
mon Lot" at Zwoll, where he had the advantage of forming 
an acquaintance with Thomas a Kempis, w^hose residence 
was within about half a league from the town. This ac- 
quaintance ripened into an intimate friendship, although 
Thomas was about forty years his senior ; and this friend- 
ship appears to have had an important influence in mould- 
ing his opinions and forming the character of his subsequent 
life. It was about that time that Hamerken had just writ- 



224 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

ten his admirable work on the Imitation of Christ ; and 
John Wessel has acknowledged that the perusal of that 
book was mainly instrumental in first leading him to a de- 
cidedly religious course of life. The instruction which he 
received at Zwoll, and the pious example of his teachers 
there, doubtless contributed to promote this inclination. 
But his active and inquiring mind was not fully satisfied 
with the amount of learning to be obtained in the schools 
of the "Brethren of the Common Lot," which was in some 
sort elementary, though practicall}^ useful and substantial. 
Indeed, it appears that he had an almost insatiable thirst 
for knowledge, in the departments both of science and lit- 
erature, as well as in what was then called theology. His 
desire, says Ullmann, was to master everything the age 
offered as worthy of being known. And another of his 
biographers, Hardenburg, tells us that from his boyhood 
he had always something peculiar, and entirely repugnant 
to all superstition. Thomas a Kempis had a great vener- 
ation for the Yirgin Mary, and on one occasion exhorted 
his young friend to evince the same reverence for her. 
Wessel replied, "Father, why do you not rather lead me to 
Christ, who so graciously invites those who labor and are 
heavy-laden to come unto him ?" Thomas was also zealous 
in fasting, as in other parts of the usual discipline, and was 
once inculcating it upon Wessel, when he received from him 
this answer, "God grant that I may always live in purity 
and temperance, and fast from sin and vice !" The narra- 
tor of this incident adds that Thomas a Kempis was so 
much struck with his youthful friend's reply, that ''he took 
occasion to alter some passages in his writings, which now 
show fewer traces of human superstition." 

John Wessel had complied with all the usages and dis- 
cipline of the school at Zwoll, and was appointed submon- 
itor or lector to the third class of scholars ; but the freedom 



JOHN WESSEL. 225 

of certain of his opinions, indicating the opposition which 
he afterward maintained to various superstitions, gave 
some umbrage to the inmates and authorities, which is 
supposed to have induced him to leave the school sooner 
than he might otherwise have done. From the compara- 
tively sheltered and domestic roof of the "Brethren of the 
Common Lot," Wessel departed for the renowned Univer- 
sity of Cologne, where he found a very different state of 
feeling among both students and professors. "Theology," 
says Ullmann, "reigned supreme at Cologne ;" but it was 
characterized by "the stiff, gloomy, intolerant spirit of 
scholastic dogmatism ;" very different from the warmth of 
practical piety with which young Wessel had before been 
associated. Cologne was the chief seat of the Inquisition 
in Germany. Laurentius, the founder of that part of the 
establishment in which Wessel now resided, had boasted 
that he had himself pushed that great reformer John Huss 
into the fire at Constance ! Wessel was disgusted with the 
condition of things in the university, yet he went through 
his studies regularly, and in due time received his degree 
of Master of Arts. But he has complained that he there 
heard scarcely anything but the doctrines of Thomas Aqui- 
nas and Albert Magnus, calculated either to rivet his youth- 
ful mind to superstition, or else to satiate and disgust him 
with the scholasticism so much in vogue. The latter seems 
to have been the result with him, and he placed himself in 
opposition to many of the dogmas and traditions taught in 
the university. At the same time he highly prized the 
opportunities of consulting the valuable libraries with 
which Cologne abounded, and he made himself well ac- 
quainted with the Latin, Glreek, and Hebrew languages. 

After remaining several years at Cologne, he visited the 
seats of learning in several other countries ; a learned edu- 
cation in those days requiring many years of assiduity, and 



226 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

the inspection of various libraries, as the art of printing 
was then in its infancy, and books were comparatively rare 
and enormously costly. A copy of the Bible is still to be 
seen in Utrecht, written by Jacob Enkhuysen about the 
year 1458, for which he charged 500 gold guilders ; although 
money was then many times more valuable in comparison 
with the commodities of common life than it is at the pres- 
ent period ; when, nevertheless, the poor can purchase a 
good copy of the Holy Scriptures for half a dollar. 

It appears that Wessel spent many years of his middle 
hfe in Paris, arriving there about the thirty-second year of 
his age, and residing there chiefly until 14t0, when he went 
into Italy for about two years, and then returned to Paris. 
Here in 14t3, he met with the celebrated John Reuchlin, 
who has been called "the restorer of Hebrew literature 
among Christians,"* with whom he afterward at least re- 
newed his acquaintance at Basle in 14t5, if he did not even 
become his tutor. 

The University of Paris, at the time of his residence 
there, was the scene of endless disputes among the learned 
on subjects which now appear worthy only of ridicule. 
Abstruse questions, of no practical importance whatever, 
assumed vast proportions in the interest of the opposing 
factions of Nominalists and Realists, thougl^ really too 
childish to be worth dwelling upon, and at length became 
the subject of a royal ew parte interference and interdiction. 
For an example of the entangled nonsense which, in the 
middle ages, was called philosophy, we may refer the curi- 
ous to what Ullmann has said of these disputes in his elab- 
orate memoir of the life of Wessel. f It is indeed sorrow- 

* McCrie's History of the Reformation in Italy, p. 29. 

f Translation into English by Menzies, p. 300. "The antithesis between 
Realism and Nominalism, which runs through the whole theology and phi- 
losophy of the middle ages, has its extreme roots in the i)hilosophical sys- 



JOHN WESSEL. 22t 

ful to consider that such empty disputations constituted a 
large portion of what was then deemed the study of the- 
ology. Wessel became involved in these discussions, along 
with almost every one else in the University of Paris, prob- 
ably to his own injury in so far as they drew his mind away 
from the comparatively simple views of religion which he 
had imbibed among the Brethren at Zwoll. Yet he did 
not blindly follow the popular religious current. What- 
ever he found openly contrary to the Holy Scriptures, he 
felt bound to call in question. Thus he was led to oppose 

terns of antiquit}^, especially in the antagonistic modes of thinking of 

Plato and Aristotle Taken in the most general point of view, 

the dispute related to the question, whether so-called universals possess ob- 
jective reality, or have merely ideal existence in our thinking ? . . . . 
By universals two things could be meant, either the five general ideas of 
the Aristotelian logic, which were likewise called predibables — or generic 

ideas In the sequel, universals were usually understood to 

mean generic ideas ,• and respecting these. Realism taught that they had 
an objective existence even apart from our thought; whereas Nominalism 
asserted that they were merely abstractions of human thinking, verbal 
signs, names, nay, as Roscellinus is said to have expressed it, a breath of 
the mouth. For example, the Nominalist required to say : That which we 
call mankind does not exist as such, but only in this or that person. It 
is merely an idea abstracted from the generality of the individuals — a 
form of thought in which these are all comprehended. The Realist, on 
the other hand, maintained that mankind is also something actual, either 
the prototype of Tiumanity .... or their proper and formative sub- 
stance At first the contest possessed merely a metaphysical 

interest. But in course of time, by the application of the philosophical 

conclusions to particular doctrines it also acquired great 

ecclesiastical importance .... (p. 301). When Wessel lived, there 
were four different systems upon the subject .... viz., a twofold 
form of Realism and a twofold form of Nominalism." 

The above brief statement is important as affording a sample of the 
utterly empty scholastic disputes with which the universities wasted the 
time and intellects of their students. Applied as this jargon was to the- 
ology, it seems like an awfully daring and impious attempt to scan, by the 
powers of the human intellect, the incomprehensible mystery of the Di- 
vine Being, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 



228 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

some of the cherished articles of the Romish creed, and 
even to doubt the absolute authority of the Romish church, 
and of its head, the pope. He was willing to go along 
with the pope, only when the pope went along with the 
Scriptures. He trusted in Christ as his Redeemer, reject- 
ing all personal worthiness as forming a claim on the favor 
of the Most High, and of course all desert or merit accru- 
ing from ecclesiastical penances or what were deemed good 
works. In this respect he seems to have advanced further 
than the pious friend of his 3"outh, Thomas a Kempis. He 
was decidedly opposed to Indulgences, and attacked at the 
same time the Romish doctrine of Purgatory. He desired 
a return to the primitive condition of Christianity, so far 
as he understood it, in the constitution of the church. The 
traditions and the hierarchy of Rome he considered as 
something interposed between Christ and his church. The 
sale of Indulgences was to his candid mind an abomination, 
and he openly expressed his sentiments respecting it, says 
Ullmann, before all descriptions of men. The degradation 
of morals among the students of the Universities of Cologne 
and Paris greatly disgusted him. He looked there in vain 
for Christian piety, or even good morals. He thus ex- 
presses his feelings in regard to it. '^In fact, what I saw 
when living at Cologne and Paris was doubtless odious to 
God ; I mean not the study itself of the sacred sciences, but 
the moral depravity with which it was mixed up." 

During a portion of the time of his residence in Paris he 
appears to have been engaged in imparting instruction, 
partly in the form of lectures, both there and in cities 
within a convenient distance. At Angers, in particular, 
he delivered pubhc lectures, in which he took occasion to 
advocate freely his opinions concerning Indulgences. 

In the year 14Y0 he went into Italy, and visited Rome; 
where he cultivated an intimate friendship with Francis de 



JOHN WESSEL. 229 

Rovere, who, the next year, while Wessel was still there, 
w^as elected pope, and took the name of Sixtus IV. With 
this pope's particular friend the Cardinal Bessarion, Wessel 
had previously made acquaintance in Paris ; and (what 
seems remarkable) he now sheltered himself under their 
friendship to promulgate in Rome itself, with greater 
security, his liberal and reformatory opinions. He had 
considerable medical knowledge and skill, and it has been 
said that he attended Sixtus in the capacity of a physician. 
Whether it was through his influence that this pope gave 
his sanction to the institutions of the Brethren of the Com- 
mon Lot, is a matter of doubl, but it seems not by any means 
improbable. On one occasion soon after the elevation of 
Rovere to the papal chair, Wessel waiting on him was in- 
vited to ask for some favor from the new pope. To this 
he modestly and frankly replied: "Holy father, you are 
well aware that I have never aspired after great things ; 
but now that you occupy the place of supreme priest and 
shepherd on earth, my desire is that your reputation may 
correspond with your character ; and that you may so ad- 
minister your exalted office, that when the Chief Shepherd 
shall appear, he may say to you, * Good and faithful ser- 
vant, enter into the joy of thy Lord ;' while you on your 
part may be able confidently to aver, 'Lord, thou deliv- 
eredst unto me five talents ; behold, I have gained beside 
them five talents more.'" On the pope remarking that this 
w'as a matter which belonged to him, and that Wessel 
should now ask some boon for himself, he said, " Well then, 
I ask you to give me from the library of the Vatican a 
Greek and Hebrew Bible." — ** It shall be done," replied 
Sixtus, astonished; "but, foolish man, why did you not ask 
a bishopric, or something of that sort?" — "Because," re- 
joined Wessel, ''of that I have no need." IJllmann adds 
that the Bible was accordingly given to him ; and this re- 

11 



230 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

markable manuscript, which was more precious to Wessel 
than the possession of a bishopric, is said to have been 
long preserved in a convent near Groningen, where he 
spent part of his declining years. 

He very undisguisedly expressed his sentiments respecting 
the subject of Indulgences, among all classes at Rome, not 
excepting those belonging to the papal court. But many 
of these persons had long ago divested themselves in real- 
ity of all religious sensibiHty, so that they could treat the 
prevailing prejudices, or even opposing views, with indiffer- 
ence if not with ridicule. Thus Wessel could for a time ex- 
press his opinions with the more impunity ; but he learned 
by personal observation the hollowness 'and corruption of 
the Romish priesthood, and returned to France with his 
reformatory sentiments practically confirmed. This was 
probably about the year 141 2, and he does not appear to 
have ever afterward felt any inclination to revisit Rome. 

Resuming his residence in Paris, he was soon afterward 
invited by Philip, Elector Palatine of the Rhine, to a posi- 
tion in the University of Heidelberg; winch invitation he 
accepted about the fifty- eighth year of his age. In this 
same city Jerome of Prague had, about seventy years be- 
fore, on publicly posting up reformatory theses, been per- 
emptorily forbidden to call in question the prevalent dog- 
mas. Here also Melancthon afterward, studied, and Luther 
at a still later day kindled much ardor for the doctrines of 
the reformation. The elector, it seems, was desirous that 
he should lecture on theology ; but here an obstacle soon 
presented itself. Wessel had never taken a degree as 
Doctor of Theology, and had always refused on any ac- 
count to submit to the tonsure as a priest ; and the faculty 
would by no means consent to such an innovation as to 
place one who was not holding such an ecclesiastical posi- 
tion, in that professorship. He therefore took the chair of 



JOHN WESSEL. 231 

Philosophy, in his capacity of Master of Arts. His lec- 
tures included some reference to the Greek and Hebrew 
languages, and afforded him frequent opportunities of freely 
speaking his sentiments on the defects and corruptions of 
the Komish system, and of what was called theological 
science. He continued his labors at Heidelberg for but a 
few years. " It was he," says Ullmann, " who sowed the 
first seeds of that purer Christian doctrine, which we find 
springing up here, with so rich a growth, about the com- 
mencement of the sixteenth century." 

But his free teachings, so opposite to the scholastic dog- 
matism of- those times, were not likely to make his abode in 
Heidelberg a couch of ease. A jealousy also ensued among 
the other teachers, who saw and felt his preponderating in- 
fluence. The monks hated him for his determined opposi- 
tion to their bigotry and superstition ; and their inclination 
to bring him into trouble showed itself at various times in 
a way which convinced him that they only wanted oppor- 
tunity for the commencement of persecution. About the 
year 1479, his friend John Ruchrath of Wesel was impris- 
oned, and his writings condemned by the Inquisitors, and a 
report reached Wessel that he was even condemned to be 
burned. This he looked upon as a clear indication of what 
might perhaps soon befall himself. He had already retired 
from Heidelberg into his native country of the Xetherlands, 
being weary of the animosity which pursued him. He now 
appears to have taken the resolution to spend the approach- 
ing evening of his life in comparative privacy. The dreaded 
prosecution, however, was averted, probably owing in part 
at least to the known protection and hospitality extended 
to him by David of Burgundy, Bishop of L^trecht and 
half-brother of Charles the Bold ; a man who delighted in 
the society of men of great talent and celebrity, and en- 
deavored to promote some reform in the ecclesiastical body. 



232 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

This prelate once wrote to Wessel : " I know there are 
many who seek your destruction ; but while I am alive to 
protect you, this shall never be." 

The biographer of Wessel to whom we have so often 
referred, says in regard to this period of his life : " Wessel 
beheved that the time was now come for him to direct the 
current of his life more into the channel of peaceful con- 
templation. In doing so, however, he did not cease to em- 
ploy his pen and tongue as industriously as ever, but only 
gave to his industry a more calm and exclusive character. 
He frequently visited his friends, and received visits in 
return. It was his custom annually to repair to the scene 
of his early education, Zwoll and the contiguous Mount St. 
Agnes. Here he was surrounded with the memories of 
former years, especially of his paternal friend Thomas a 
Kempis, and in no spot of his native land did he love so 
much to dwell. From the abode thus endeared to him by 
the remembrances of youth, Wessel was wont to resort to the 
monastery Adwerd [about two leagues from Groningen], 
where he had many friends and scholars, to whose number 
he was continually adding." Belonging to this monastery 
" there was a sort of academy, frequented by the youth from 
all Friesland, who, in a lower school, were taught the ele- 
mentary branches of knowledge, and then promoted to a 
higher, where, under professors of greater learning, they 
prosecuted their studies in philosophy and theology. These 
schools had formerly been in a very flourishing condition 

but they were now somewhat upon the decline. 

Wessel made great efforts to revive them, in which, at the 
outset, he was supported by the abbot, Henry Rees. At his 
death, however, hindrances were cast in his way. During 
his visits to Adwerd, he endeavored to operate on the minds 
of the monks and the susceptible youths. He encouraged 
them to the study of Hebrew, explained to them the Psalms, 



JOHN WESSEL. 233 

pointed out the mistakes in the Yulgate, answered the 
questions and solved the difficulties they proposed; and 
occasionally read aloud a passage from the original Hebrew 
text, at which all that the monks could do was to wonder 
at the outlandish sounds. These exertions were not unsuc- 
cessful. Adwerd, for a time, united together all the men 
of learning in Friesland and the surrounding countries." 

"In like manner Wessel everywhere endeavored to 
operate upon the young, and sow the seeds of improvement 
in their souls. He directed their attention to what was 
defective and pernicious in the prevaihng method of educa- 
tion .... and prepared their youthful minds for the rise of a 
brighter day, which he never doubted would come at last, 
but of which he only caught a distant view." "Wessel 
used to foretell, with the most perfect certitude, the speedy 
and total overthrow of scholasticism. To one of his 
favorite pupils, who applied to him for advice about the 
prosecution of his studies, he said, * Young friend, you v/ill 
live to see the day when the doctrine of Thomas Aquinas 
and Bonaventura, and such other modern dialectical theo- 
logians, will be rejected by all truly Christian divines.'" 
This w^as literally fulfilled, Oestendorp, the student alluded 
to, being still living about the year 1528, at which time 
scholasticism had received its fatal blow from the reforma- 
tion. 

"Upon another occasion he declared, 'It will come to 
pass ere long, that these irrefutable teachers, with their 
hoods and cowls, both black and white, will be forced to 
retreat within due bounds.' In this manner Wessel guided 
the current into a new and better channel . . . and as they 
had once done to Gerhard Groot and Florentius Eadewins, 
persons of all ages from the surrounding district resorted to 
the old. and experienced man for advice and instruction." 
"In the list of Wessel's scholars, the two who, both as the 



234 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS, 

oldest and the most distinguished, undoubtedly claim the 
highest place, are Rudolph Agricola, and John Reuchlin." 
In this manner, as well as in his published works, did 
WessePs labors serve to prepare the minds of his country- 
men for the great change which took place in the next cen- 
tury. 

"The piety of Wessel," says IJllmann, ''evinced itself 
most of all as a vital consciousness of dependence upon 
God, and complete devotedness to his will. . . . 'All that I 
have,' he says, addressing the Divine Being, 'is from thee. 
Not by my own wisdom, or my own device, or my own 
labor, am I what I am ; but I am this and all else because 
such has been thy will. Thou hast commanded, and I am 
here. And for this reason, I do not merely commit myself 
to thee with confidence, or devote myself to thee in faith, 
but, as is my duty, I give myself wholly up to thy will. 
Use me according to thy free pleasure. Created for thy 
sake and by thyself, out of nothing, I ought to seek and 
expect nothing but thy glory. Then, whatever befalls me, 
provided it comes from thee, will be right. . . . Let this one 
thing suffice for my comfort, to know that such is the will 
of Him, without whose will not even a leaf drops from a 
tree; and in all situations let it be the firm anchor of my 
tossing bark, to have no other will but thine.'" 

"And no less does his piety manifest itself as sincere and 
profound humility. Thoroughly as his mind was imbued 
with love to the Divine Being, he yet possessed that child- 
like modesty which considers its affection as far beneath 
the dignity of its object, and a consciousness that all he 
had to offer to God bore no proportion to what he had re- 
ceived from him. 'What shall I render to him for his 
gifts,' he asks, 'to whom I can render nothing which is not 
already his own, nothing which I have not obtained from 
him, and obtained as a boon ? Woe is me ! I must not be 



JOHN WESSEL. 235 

ungrateful, and yet to give him gift for gift in the least 
degree, is impossible. My very self and all that is mine is 
thine, Lord, whether I choose or not. I received it with- 
out desert, and I possess it without the power of making 

any return for it With immeasurable obligations on the 

one hand, and total penury on the other, all that is left for 
tne is to acknowledge and confess, and refer all to Him, 
and to admire, love, glorify him, and sweetly enjoy his 
bounties.' And in another place: 'What can I give to 
Him who gives all to me ? The violet of spring exhales 
its fragrance to the fostering sun. The winged gnat sports 
in its beams. But to Him who is iny spiritual sun, what 
can I give in return ? In truth, to render to him anything 
of my own is impossible, and, toward such a lover, would 
be dreadful ingratitude and neglect of duty. . . . The only 
thing which I can give is a grateful heart.'" 

In another passage of the same work {Exempla Scalas 
3Iedifationis) , he thus fervently expresses his feelings on 
the love of God to be perfected in heaven : '' Oh, that will 
be a happy day, when I shall love, and not merely love, but 
love with all my heart, and soul, and spirit ! Nor will it 
even suffice that I truly, and sincerely, and purely love, but 
the nerve and force of my affection will be unspeakably 
heightened by Him who was born and gave himself for me. 
So that my love will then be exalted as far above that 
which we now feel, as heaven is above the earth, the sun 
above a spark, and the universe greater than a grain of 
mustard seed. And with a love thus elevated and in- 
flamed will I keenly and fervently long and hunger and 
thirst after my God, and when at last my desires shall be 
crowned, and I shall possess and embrace their object, who 
will then paint my bliss ? Who can comprehend it, that 
has not burned with the same ardor ? Blessed, therefore, 
yea truly blessed that day ! Its blessedness is such as no 



236 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

eye hath seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into 
the heart of man to conceive." 

Yet it appears that toward the clbse of his life his mind 
was permitted to be brought into some painful conflicts. 
To a friend who visited him in his last illness, he is re- 
ported to have said, that according to his time of life and 
condition he was w^ell, but had great trouble one way; for 
that he was tossed to and fro by conflicting thoughts, and 
even began to doubt of the truth of the Christian religion. 
Ullmann says that " even at former periods he had not been 
exempt fromimvard conflicts and scruples. But that which 
was the inmost and highest power of his life soon obtained 
the victory in the breast of Wessel. Many a time before, 
in a lively faith in the Redeemer, he had obtained inspiring 
glimpses into the eternal world, and long had he antici- 
pated and extolled the happ}^ day on which he would pass 
to an infinitely perfect life of love. And now, when the 
hour of his departure approached, he met it with steadfast- 
ness and joy. To the friend, when he repeated his visit, 
he said, 'Thank God, all the vain thoughts of which I 
spoke have vanished, and now I know nothing but Jesus 
Christ and him crucified !'.... A peaceful death at length 
emancipated his spirit, on the 4th day of October, 1489, 
and, supposing him to have been born in 1419 or 1420, at 
the age of sixty-nine or seventy." He left quite a number 
of works on various religious subjects, many of which, prob- 
ably published only in manuscript, have been lost. 



JEROME SAVONAROLA. 23*7 



CHAPTER XIII. 

JEROME SAVONAROLA. 

Jerome, or in his native Italian, Girolamo Savonarola 
was the third son of Nicolo Savonarola, and was born in 
the city of Ferrara in the year 1452. During his child- 
hood, his grandfather, Michele Savonarola, a physician of 
great eminence, distinguished as a professor of the phys- 
ical sciences and as the author of several medical works, 
undertook the charge of his education, but died when the 
youth was only ten years of age. Under his care, how- 
ever, he had already made good progress in elementary 
studies and in the Latin language; and w^hen afterward 
he was sent to the public schools of his native city, he is 
said to have evinced indications of the finest talents and 
the most acute intellect. He applied with such assiduity 
to the study of the liberal sciences as then taught, that in 
a short time he became famous for his acquirements, and 
. far surpassed all his fellow-students. The scholastic the- 
ology and metaphysics of that age were much in vogue in 
these schools, and a great deal of valuable time was lost 
in endeavoring to imbue the minds of the young with 
what was scarcely any better than pagan philosophy. 
Young Savonarola at length became disgusted with "the 
jargon of Aristotle," and, being seriously inclined, betook 
himself principally to the works of Thomas Aquinas and 
the Holy Scriptures. He had at one time taken pleasure 
in the philosophy of Plato, but later in life he said, " I was 
then in the error of the schools, and studied with assiduity 
the Dialogues of Plato ; but when God brought me to see 

11* 



238 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

the true light, I destroyed and cast away from me those 
futilities which they had incited in me the idea of writing. 
What does all this wisdom of philosophy serve for, if a 
poor old woman, established in the faith, knows more of 
the true wisdom than Plato ?" 

As he grew up toward manhood, his mind became more 
and more absorbed in meditation on religious subjects, and 
in those studies which have reference to the improvement 
and elevation of society. "All historians who treat of 
Savonarola," says his recent biographer, Madden, "are 
agreed that his youth was full of promise, and of evidence 
of great virtues as well as extraordinary intellectual endow- 
ments Though of a sanguineous temperament, and bis 

nervous system most delicately organized, rendering him 
remarkably susceptible of external impressions, and sensi- 
tive even to atmospheric influences, he possessed bodily 
strength and robustness that made him capable of enduring 
great fatigues, of going through extraordinary labors. He 
possessed, moreover, a penetrating spirit, an ardent love of 
truth and justice, natural feelings affectionate, kind, and 
pitiful. He had strong sympathies with poverty and suf- 
fering, and equally strong antipathies for pride, oppression, 
and meanness of every kind." 

Again he says, "We are told that Girolamo was a silent, 
joyless child, given to seclusion; that he shared neither in 
the amusements nor occupations of young people of his age ; 
that he arrived to the age of twenty without ever having 
been seen in the fashionable resort for the citizens of Fer- 

rara, the public promenade One opinion of his mind, 

from a very early period of his career, from his first en- 
trance into college life, was a profound conviction of the 
vanity of all earthly honors and enjoyments." 

These sentiments seem to have increased with his years. 
To use his own words, he saw and felt "the great wretched- 



JEROME SAVONAROLA. 239 

ness of the world, the iniquity of men, the debauchery, the 
theft, the pride, the idolatry, the dreadful profaneness into 
which this age has fallen, so that one can no longer find a 
righteous man. ... I could not endure the great wickedness 
of certain parts of Italy; the more also seeing virtue ex- 
hausted, and trodden down, and vice triumphant." He 
longed to retire altogether from such scenes, and at length, 
in 14 1 5, before he had attained to his twenty- third year, he 
took a resolution, so often taken in those disturbed times by 
those who were oppressed with a sense of the wickedness 
which surrounded them, and saw not clearly that the evil 
one can penetrate into the secret recesses of the cloister, as 
easily as into the busy streets of cities. He determined to 
leave his father's house, and devote himself to a religious 
life in a Dominican convent at Bologna, His first-purpose 
was, not to become a priest or monk, but merely as a lay 
brother, to reside there permanently as a safe refuge from 
the vices and dangers of the world; but the monks of the 
convent soon appreciated the importance of indissolubly 
attaching to their community a youth of such promise ; 
and by the time that his year of residence there had been 
accomplished, which was requisite for a noviciate, they in- 
duced him to assume the full habit and obligations of their 
order. Here he applied himself with great assiduity to the 
perusal of the Holy Scriptures, so that it is said he almost 
had them word for word in his memory. He was also dili- 
gent in studying the writings of those who were esteemed 
as fathers in the church. 

The Dominican monks were distinguished for their great 
diligence in preaching, and after a time it fell to Savona- 
rola's lot to engage in this public function of the order. But 
his first attempts in the pulpit gave no indication whatever 
of his subsequent eminence and success. "In the com- 
mencement, he had neither voice, nor gesture, nor any man- 



240 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

Tier that was suitable and fit," says an Italian author; " so 
that there was nothing whatever agreeable in his delivery, 
nor was any person pleased with it. But by a special gift 
of God, he afterward became a wonderful and admirable 
preacher." The same author adds, as an instance of his 
effective appeals in this way in after-life, that " On one oc- 
casion, when he was going by water from Ferrara to Maii- 
tua, he found himself in a boat with eighteen soldiers, who 
were indulging in ribaldry and filthy conversation. He 
begged to be allowed to say a few words to them, and hav- 
ing obtained their permission, he addressed some observa- 
tions to them, exhorting them to change their mode of life 
and habits. But he had not spoken long, before they 
gathered round him, threw themselves at his feet, and con- 
fessed their sins, accusing themselves of many grievous 
crimes — and with many supplications and tears they hum- 
bly asked his pardon." Whether he then directed them to 
Him who only can forgive sins, this author does not say. 

When he entered the monastic order, he abandoned all 
worldly property, except some clothing and a few religious 
books. Though somewhat delicately brought up, he now 
took pleasure in using the coarsest materials for his clothing, 
and food of the most simple quality and most sparing quan- 
tity that would suffice for his nourishment. No .luxury or 
delicacy did he allow himself. His bed consisted of a few 
boards, on simple supports, with a sack of straw for a mat- 
tress. He had a very kind regard for the poor, and often 
spoke of them as his children. He feared,' it is said, nothing 
in this world so much for the church and its ministers, as 
wealth. 

When about thirty years of age, he had been appointed 
to preach in Florence ; but his signal failure on his first 
attempts so discouraged him, that he resolved to leave the 
city, to appear no more in the pulpit, and to devote himself 



JEROME SAVONAROLA. 241 

to more private instruction. This was in 1482, and the 
next seven years he passed in teaching noviciates in sev- 
eral convents in Tascany and Lombardy, and in the con- 
vent at Brescia. 

It seems probable that this discouragement in regard to 
his first attempts at preaching, was the means of leading 
him to more attention to the inward operations of the Great 
Teacher within his own soul. The Italian author* quoted 
above says that about a year after his leaving Florence, he 
" began to be made a partaker of the divine illumination;" 
and mentions the occurrence of what Savonarola believed 
to be a special revelation to himself respecting "the re- 
newal" of the church, and likewise respecting a great and 
most distressing calamity, which was to attend the city of 
Brescia within the lifetime of some then living. In that 
year he spoke of it in private to some individuals, and also 
gave some cautious hints of it in public discourse ; and on 
one occasion he was so greatly confirmed, that " all doubts 
were dissipated respecting the events foreseen ; as he after- 
ward related to the Count of Mirandola, and often declared 
in public, that of the things revealed to him, he had more 
certainty than philosophers had of the first principles they 
so much depend on." Sensible of the judgments impending 
on that city, it seems that again in 1484, in a public dis- 
course, he felt himself called upon to exhort the inhabitants 
to repentance ; and afterward, in the year 1494, in speaking 
during one of his sermons of his sense of the need of a I'eno- 
vation of the church, he mentioned the same circumstance, 
and declared that Ms mind was confirmed in it, " not only 
on account of the divine light," but also " on account of the 
enormity and infinite number of sins arising from the scan- 
dalous lives of prelates of every grade, and the great luke- 
warmness and relaxed discipline" of those professing highly 

* Burlamacchi, Vita de Savonarola. 



242 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

in religion The calamity thus foretold, came to pass six 
years after his thus reannouncing it, and two years after 
his own death,, when, in the year 1500, the people of Brescia 
were so cruelly spoiled by the French, against whom they 
had risen in revolt. 

In 1490, Savonarola was sent by the superiors of his 
order, to preach in Genoa, and he afterward returned to 
Florence. Here he was fearless in his denunciations 
against the corruptions of the times, and especially among 
the ecclesiastical dignitaries. His boldness of invective 
began to irritate those against whom his shafts were aimed, 
and soon the Franciscan monks were incited by the power- 
ful family of the Medici to raise a popular outcry against 
Savonarola and the Dominicans. But he stood his ground, 
and from the time of the election of Alexander YI. to the 
papal chair, he ceased not to testify against the flagrant 
wickedness of that pontiff. 

On his return to Florence, Madden informs us that the 
citizens ''received him with joy and satisfaction ; and we 
are told their surprise was wonderful, at observing how 
great a change had taken place in his deportment, demean- 
or, voice, and gesture. A gracious sweetness that seemed 
to them ineffable, had spread over his features, and ex- 
tended to his mode of speaking, and to his mien and man- 
ners. His instructions to the community were usually 
given in the garden of the convent, from a small chapel in 
the centre, and were attended by a vast concourse of people 
of distinction in the city, of the court, and of the schools. 
The intellect and piety of Florence were taken as if by 
storm by the irresistible eloquence of Fra Girolamo ; his 
fame extended even to Rome itself" He was at length 
prevailed upon to deliver his discourses in one of the pub- 
lic places of worship ; and on the occasion of his first thus 
occupying the pulpit, a remarkable circumstance is said to 



JEROME SAVONAROLA. 243 

have occurred. " He seemed for some minutes to be ab- 
sorbed in deep and solemn thought — he then proceeded 
with his discourse — and after another solemn pause, and 
apparent meditation on things of high importance, he said, 
calmly and distinctly, ' I shall preach in the church tomor- 
row, and shall continue to do so for the space of eight 
years.' This was in the middle of 1490; in the spring of 
1498 he was put to death."* 

The account given by his Italian biographer, Burla- 
macchi, of what followed for some days after this remark- 
able prediction, is very curious. He says, "At this time 
[Savonarola was engaged in several discourses on the 
Apocalypse] there arose great diversity of opinions in the 
city; some saying that he was simple and well-intentioned ; 
some, that he was learned, but very designing; many, that 
he gave credence to false and absurd visions, . . . There were 
three propositions that he especially enforced, and endeav- 
ored to impress on the minds of the people. The first was, 
That the church of God had to be renewed, and that in our 
own times — the second, That all Italy would be chastised 
by God's wrath — the third. That all the things predicted 
would speedily come to pass. Which things he satisfac- 
torily showed were to be expected, by argument and rest- 
ing on the authority of the Holy Scriptures, abstaining 
then from further reference to visions, the people not ap- 
pearing much disposed to give credence to them. . . . Then 
the exceedingly disturbed and divided state^of public opin- 
ion becoming daily more manifest, reflection made him ap- 
prehensive and timid, and he resolved to preach no more in 
the same style. But nevertheless, every other subject that 
he studied or read, dissatisfied him, and when he preached 
on other matters, he became still more discontented with 
his labors, and finally he felt his being, as it were, a burden 

* Madclen's Life of Savonarola, voL i. p. 112. 



244 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

to himself. Wherefore, commencing a series of sermons 
the first day of the Septuagint, 1490, in the church of the 
D'Uomo, in the first week having preached sufficiently on 
future events, he proposed on the following week to aban- 
don that subject, and to preach on it no more. But, 
throughout the succeeding Saturday and the night of that 
day, he could not by any possible efforts apply his mind to 
other subjects, finding the way to every other consideration 
closed, and this one alone (of the Revelations) open to 
him. The morning came, and found him, after the long 
mental conflict during a sleepless night, wearied in mind 
and body; and in this state he heard a voice saying to him, 
'Foolish man that thou art ! Dost thou not see that it is 
the will of God that thou shouldst preach in the appointed 
manner?' Thus aroused, he immediately felt restored to 
himself; and shortly after ascended the pulpit, and preached 
a most admirable and wonderfully effective sermon." 

He was appointed Prior to the convent " San Marco," 
the same year ; and it is said that on this occasion he irri- 
tated the feelings of Lorenzo de Medici, by declining to 
call upon him as had been customarj^, to offer him thanks 
and request his protection for the convent. Savonarola 
took the ground, that his thanks were only due to the Al- 
mighty, and that to Him alone could he pray for protection. 
Lorenzo, however, covered up his anger, and endeavored 
for some time to gain him over to friendship and familiarity. 
But Savonarola steadily pursued his course of avoiding to 
court a familiar acquaintance with the great of this world. 
He continued, says Madden, "preaching and reprehending 
vice in severe terms, and menacing Italy with tribulations, 
declaring that there would shortly be seen a tempest which 
would shake ail things, and put an end to the sunshine and 
fine weather which were now enjoyed." Many of the citi- 
zens became greatly offended at his preaching so continu- 



JEROME SAVONAROLA. 245 

ally in this manner, which sadly disturbed their couches of 
ease; especially the wealthy, with "the magnificent," the 
luxurious, and the haughty Lorenzo de Medici at their 
head. The latter at one time sent five principal citizens to 
endeavor to induce hira to change his style of preaching to 
a more palatable one, charging them however not to let it 
be known that they came from him. But Savonarola, after 
hearing their persuasions, told them distinctly, that though 
they said they came of their own accord, yet he knew it 
was not so, but that Lorenzo had sent them; and he bade 
them charge Lorenzo "to repent of his sins, for God had 
ordained the punishment of him and his." Many at this 
time told him that he would be exiled, if he continued to 
preach thus ; but he did not regard their threatenings. A 
famous preacher in Florence, one Mariano Genezanno, for 
whose convent Lorenzo de Medici had erected a most beau- 
tiful building, shortly afterward went to Rome, and in a 
sermon denounced Savonarola to the pope and cardinals, 
mentioning him by name, and using these words, " Oh, holy 
father, burn this agent of Satan ; burn him ; burn, I say, 
this scandal of the whole church!" 

In the year 1492, the same year that Rodrigo Borgia 
commenced his pontificate under the name of Alexander 
YL, Lorenzo de Medici died. On his death-bed, being 
struck with fear and remorse, he sent for Savonarola. 
There are contradictory accounts of what passed on this 
solemn occasion ; and Roscoe, in his Life of Lorenzo, seems 
to have desired to suppress all that was not favorable to 
the idea that this "magnificent" man died with the firmness 
and calmness of a philosopher. But the most reliable ac- 
count seems to be,* that Lorenzo de Zvledici, conscious of 
many crimes, and especially weighed down by the remem- 
brance of three great acts of enormity; first, the sacking of 

* See Madden's Life of Savonarola, vol. i. p. 153, etc. 



246 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

the city of Yolterra, with the shocking cruelties ensuing ; 
second, the taking of certain endowments from a charitable 
institution, by which many poor people suffered wrong ; 
and third, the butchery of more than one hundred of his 
fellow-citizens, many of them under the very walls of his 
palace, and many of them, as he confessed, entirely inno- 
cent, after the defeat of a certain conspiracy; sent twice for 
Savonarola to consult with him in his distress, and to re- 
ceive if it were possible some spiritual comfort. On the 
second entreaty, Savonarola went to him ; and on his open- 
ing to him the state, "almost of despair," to which he had 
been brought by the consciousness of the near approach of 
death, Grirolamo reminded him that God is merciful, but 
that he believed there were three things which it was need- 
ful for Lorenzo to be willing to do. On the latter asking 
what they were, Savonarola replied, that the first was, that 
he should strive after a great and lively faith in the pardon- 
ing mercy of the Almighty — to which the dying man as- 
sented. The second was, the necessity that everything 
wrongfully acquired should be restored as far as possible, 
leaving to his children as much as might be a decent main- 
tenance for them as private citizens. At these words, 
Lorenzo roused somewhat, but after a little while said, 
''And even this will I do." The third requisite was, that 
he should restore to Florence her liberty, and to the people 
their former state of a repubhc. At these words, Lorenzo 
turned round in his bed with his back to his adviser, and 
gave him no answer. Savonarola then left him, and after 
some time Lorenzo departed this life. Some writers say 
that before Savonarola entirely left the room, being called 
back and solicited for a blessing, he did in some manner 
comply with the dying man's entreaty. What it amounted 
to, does not clearly appear. 

Savonarola having been appointed Prior of the convent 



JEROME SAVONAROLA. 24 1 

in which he lived, and afterward to some official supervi- 
sion of other convents of the same order, was diligent in 
promoting the practical reforms which he had so deeply at 
heart. Yet it is said that " there was always in his manner 
and in his looks a remarkable sweetness, which gave a pe- 
culiar but indescribable feeling of satisfaction and comfort 
to all that approached him." He slept only five hours 
during the night, and ''his great recreation was to converse 
familiarly, though on .subjects of solemn interest, with the 
novices," whom he called his children; and when he was 
with them " he always spoke to them of divine things, and 
of the sacred Scriptures." 

The plague at one time committed great ravages in the 
city, and made its appearance in his convent; but he "kept 
his ground, undaunted by the closest contact with the sick, 
when nearly all the other members of the community had 
fled." 

Early in the year 1492, he "relates that he had a vision, 
and in that vision he thought he saw a hand projecting from 
the heavens, holding a sword, with this inscription : ' The 
sword of the Lord upon the earth, soon and sudden !'" A 
few months later, this vision is thought to have been ful- 
filled, in the seating of that scourge of the earth, Alexan- 
der VI., upon the papal chair, bringing down untold evils 
upon Italy, and great scandal to the name of religion. 

It appears also that he predicted the invasion of Italy by 
the army of Charles YIII. of France, in one of his sermons 
preached about the middle of the year 1494 in Florence. 
Guicciardini says, that " having publicly preached in Flor- 
ence during many years, and combining a singular reputa- 
tion for sanctity with much sound doctrine, Savonarola 
had acquired the character of a prophet, and obtained an 
immense influence in the estimation of a great number of 
people ; because, when there appeared no sign (of danger) 



248 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

in Italy, but all were rejoicing in a profound tranquillity, he 
had predicted several times in his sermons the arrival in 
Italy of foreign armies, formidable on account of their 
strength and numbers, which would cast down their walls, 
destroy their troops, and burn their cities ; declaring that 
these predictions, and many others which he introduced 
continually into his sermons, he did not make by means of 
human science, nor the interpretation of the Scriptures, but 
by a special divine revelation." And these predictions, 
says Madden,* ''were accomplished sooner or later." Whe- 
ther there were indeed any mixture of the workings of a 
vivid imagination in these remarkable predictions, it would 
be difficult now to decide ; but it seems impossible fairly to 
doubt that he was sincere in his belief of a divine commu- 
nication of the warnings through him, and equally impossi- 
ble to deny that the events in a very few years evinced the 
truth at least of what had been predicted. In one of his 
numerous works he has expressed himself as follows on the 
subject of prophecy, adding that he had himself "attained 
to the knowledge thereof, and had always been certified of 
the truth, by the aforesaid light." — "Far removed from the 
scope of natural knowledge of every creature are future 
contingent events ; chiefly those which are dependent on 
free will, which in themselves cannot be known by men, 
nor by any other created beings, because they are only 
present to the Eternal, whose knowledge embraces all 

times Their future contingency cannot be known 

by any natural light, but solely by God, who knows them 
in the eternity of His light; and by him only are the 
things communicated to those to whom He deigns to re- 
veal them. In such revelations there are two things done. 
One is, that God infuses a supernatural light into the mind 

* Life of Savonarola, vol. i. p. 196. 



JEROME SAVONAROLA. 249 

of the prophet, which light is a certain degree of participa- 
tion of His eternity [of hght]. By such participation, the 
prophet judges of that which is revealed to him, that the 
revelation is true, and that it comes from God. And of 
such efficacy is this light, that the prophet is made certain 
of those things above mentioned, as the natural light makes 
philosophers certain of the first principles of science, and as 
people are made certain that two and two make four. The 
other thing that God does in those revelations is, that he pro- 
pounds distinctly to the prophet that which he wishes him 
to know and to declare; and that he does in various ways, 
as it is written in Hosea, chap. xii. 10." He then mentions 
his views in regard to the revelation by visions, the mani- 
festation of types and signs, and angelic mediation ; add- 
ing, "And by the divine light, the prophets clearly know 
those apparitions to be angehc, and that which is spoken to 
them to be true."* 

Savonarola's predictions at various times were quite nu- 
merous, and many of them were known to be fulfilled, some 
even during his own life-time. Yet there does not appear 
to have prevailed in his mind any spirit of exaltation on 
that account. He constantly gave the glory and praise to 
the Almighty, and spoke of himself as "an unprofitable 
servant," and unworthy of such favors from the Most 
High ; but that the Lord, who had a right to choose whom 
he would for his instruments, had deigned to make use of 
him as "an arrow in His quiver." 

Toward the close of that year, 1494, Italy was invaded 
by the French, the Medici family was expelled or forced to 
fly from Florence, their splendid palace was sacked, and a 
republican government was regained by the citizens. When 

* " Compendio di Eevelatione dello Inutile Servo di J. C, Hiero. da 
Ferrara." 



250 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

the French king arrived in Florence, and demanded of it 
120,000 crowns of gold, to enable him to continue his 
march on Naples, and, in default of payment of this great 
sum within twenty-four hours, had determined on the spo- 
liation and utter ruin of the city, Savonarola went to him 
only an hour or two before the time of the night appointed 
for the wholesale massacre, and in a solemn manner 
warned him to abandon his design and leave the city 
harmless, or the cries of the innocent would ascend to the 
throne of God, and confusion and destruction would fall on 
him and his army. So powerfully did Savonarola plead 
for the safety of the city, that Charles was turned from his 
fixed purpose, and made a treaty with the inhabitants, ac- 
cepting an honorable capitulation, ratifying the republican 
form of their government, and withdrawing his army from 
them. On Charles's return from the South, Savonarola 
again warned him of divine judgments. 

After so remarkable and beneficial an interposition on 
his part on behalf of the doomed city, it was a natural re- 
sult that his influence with the people became greater than 
ever. And here was a trying time for Savonarola's humil- 
ity and integrity. " The gravest charge laid to his account 
in history," says Madden, "is that of his interference in 
temporal affairs." Yet he held no post or place in the gov- 
ernment. His counsel was for several years freely re- 
quested and as freely given, in the attempts made by the 
citizens to settle the republican form of government for 
Florence. Like the great Pennsylvania legislator about 
two hundred years afterward, he earnestly desired that the 
laws should be conformable to, and based upon, the divine 
will ; though, walking as he did in the mist of those dark 
times, surrounded by superstition, and entangled in the 
trammels of popery by his education, he saw not with 
equal clearness what that will was. The state of society, 



JEROME SAVONAROLA. 251 

too, throughout Europe, was not then such as to warrant a 
reasonable expectation of the permanency of pure and lib- 
eral institutions in one isolated city. Yet iluring" the few 
short years that his personal influence prevailed, and indeed 
for several years after his death, to some extent, a great 
reform was manifested in the morals of the people, which 
had previously been at a very low ebb. 

He proposed four things to the people as conducive to 
their security: first, the fear of God, and a reform in their 
manners and customs, so as to do all things in a Christian 
manner and for Christian ends; second, a love of the com- 
monwealth, sacrificing to it every private consideration; 
third, a universal peace, and amnesty for political offenses; 
and fourth, such a constitution of government as should 
secure to every class of citizens, by representation, a partici- 
pation in the control of its affairs. The aristocratic class 
were dissatisfied with his suggestions; but the bulk of the 
industrial part of the population approved them, and pre- 
vailed. 

A late author has thus described Savonarola's style of 
preaching: "Proverbs, questions with replies interrupted 
by pathetic enthusiasm, scriptural passages, practical appli- 
cations of a surprising kind, but ever open to the plainest 
understanding — these stood in plentiful abundance at his 

disposal. His stores seemed inexhaustible. He 

spoke in short sentences ; without ornamental epithets ; 
quick and practical as we speak in the streets ; but uniting 
his ideas together in a current that carried away his 
hearers."* 

Besides his diligence as a preacher, his pen was indefat- 
igably employed, so that he left behind him many works on 
subjects of importance to the welfare of his fellow-men of 
that age. Madden says his writings and published sermons 

-•• Hermann Grim's Life of Michael Angelo, vol. i. p. 153. 



252 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

are characterized by " an all-pervading spirit of piety to- 
ward God, of compassion toward mankind, united with a 
profound conviction of the depth of the misery into which 
human nature has fallen, and the height of the excellence 
to which it is capable of being elevated by the grace of 
God. In every work of Savonarola these great sentiments 
are found embodied, and are always remarkable for the 
piety which pervades them." The same author says that 
by his preaching " a complete revolution was effected in the 
manners and morals of the people. High and low, rich 
and poor, young and old, gave edifying proofs of the won- 
derful power of the reforming friar of San Marco." 

''People came three or four hours before the time appointed 
for the sermons, in order to procure a place, so great was 
the difficulty of getting even room to stand, when Fra 
Girolamo preached. But the most remarkable change that 
was apparent in the manners of the people, in their recrea- 
tions and amusements, was the abandonment of demoral- 
izing practices, of debauchery of all kinds, of profane songs 
of a licentious character, to which the lower orders of the 
people especially were greatly addicted. The amount of 
the restitution of money wrongfully acquired was enor- 
mous. Yast sums were advanced by opulent people to 
send to foreign countries for grain, of which there was a 
dearth at this period ; and the supply thus obtained was 
disposed of at a moderate price to the poor. Money was 
also lent to a large extent to the industrious poor by the 
rich, free of interest, which had not been done previously, 
except on a very small scale, by some charitable persons." 
The effects of his labors were especially manifested in the 
behavior of the children and youth of both sexes. " They 
sedulously avoided theatrical spectacles and balls, masquer- 
ades, and public sports ; the}^ were simple in their clothing, 
and vanities and superfluities they were taught to look on 



JEROME SAVONAROLA. 253 

with contempt." A juN^enile confrateraity* was formed 
under the sanction of Savonarola and the Signorial Coun- 
cil, the members of which were "not to be found at public 
worldly spectacles, such as theatres and masquerades." 
They were to be diligent in their religious duties. ''Their 
clothing was to be simple, according to the condition of 
each, without slashings or other vanities. They should 
cut their hair close about their ears, avoid games and bad 
company like serpents, never hear or read impure books, 
either in their own language or in Latin, should shrink 
from lascivious poets as from deadly poison, and occupy 
themselves on festivals with divine things, not going to 
schools for fencing, dancing, singing, or playing." Another 
author says, that "It was an extraordinary sight for the 
Florentines, to see that youth formerly so boisterous, so 
undisciplined, so insubordinate, submit to a rule of life so 
contrary to its customs and to its natural impetuosity, and 
to have a great desire for pious exercises — during seven 
consecutive years." 

Savonarola desired for the youth a solid school educa- 
tion, but one guarded from baneful influences. He once 
thus counselled the Florentines: *'Ye fathers, let your 
children learn grammar, and keep able men as teachers 

■*" M. Young, in his Life and Times of Paleario (vol. i. p. 674), does 
great injustice to Savonarola, in displaying in a ridiculous point of view 
certain public celebrations of these youthful confraternities, as if Savon- 
arola was accountable for every extravagance or folly of an excitable 
people like those of Florence. He also very unjustly charges him with 
"cruelty and intolerance," "fanatical enthusiasm," and a "stern harsh 
spirit," that "knew nothing of the love of Christ," adding that he "was 
totally ignorant of the benign influence of the gospel," and " so little was 
he spiritually enlightened, that he thought of no other reform but substi- 
tuting one kind of excitement for another." Such vituperations, unsup- 
ported by the smallest shadow of an attempt at proof, against a man of 
acknowledged piety and great public and private virtues, are unworthy 
of so judicious a biographer. 

12 



254 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

who are accomplished, and not players. Pay them well, 
and see that the schools are no holes and corners. All 
should practise grammar in some degree, for it wakens the 
mind and helps much. But the poets should thereby not 
destroy everything else. There should be a law made that 
no bad poet should be read in the schools; such as Ovid, 
de Arte Amandi, Tibullus, and Catullus, and of the same 
sort, Terence in many places. Yirgil and Cicero I would 
suffer. Homer in the Greek, and also some passages from 
Augustine De Givitate Dei, or from Jerome, or something 
out of the Holy Scripture. And where your teachers find 
in those books Jupiter, Pluto, or the like named, say then 
— children, these are fables — and show them that God alone 
rules the world. So would the children be brought up in 
wisdom and in truth, and God would be with them." 

A certain writer* says of him : " Drunkenness, sensu- 
ality, and profanity were overcome by Savonarola, and 
the triumph endured for some years during his life — nay, 
for upwards of thirty years after his death, the traces of it 
were to be witnessed in Florence. Is it exaggeration in 
sentiment or language to say that humanity owes more to 
the memory of the poor friar of Ferrara, of the fifteenth cen- 
tury, than to the merits of all the military heroes of Europe 
put together, who have flourished during the last 400 
years ?" 

He earnestly deprecated all works of art that pandered 
to the depraved inclinations of fallen man, of which works, 
both statuary and pictures, there were abundance in Italy ; 
and in consequence, a vast number of immodest paintings 
were given up to be destroyed. We are told by Hio that 
" His success so far exceeded his expectations, that he him- 
self thought he could not attribute it to any cause but the 
miraculous intervention of the Divine mercy ; and he was 

"••• Quoted by Madden, vol. i. p. 404. 



JEROME SAVONAROLA. 255 

never more moved than in the effusion of his acknowledg- 
ment of the Author of that benefit." 

But in 1495, it became evident that a reaction had been 
set on foot against his influence. His interposition in 
secular affairs, and above all, his invectives and active 
measures against the rapacity of the money-dealers, had 
exasperated these avaricious men ; and they, in their turn, 
had incited the monks of the Franciscan order to endeavor 
to break down his popularity. He had constantly testified 
against the simony and corruption of Pope Alexander YI.; 
and in 1484, under the previous pontificate, in one of his 
sermons in the city of Brescia, he had publicly used the 
following bold language, after reproving the vices of the 
people and of the clergy. "Popes have attained, through 
the most shameful simony and subtlety, the highest priestly 
dignities, and even then surrender themselves to a shame- 
fully voluptuous life and an insatiable avarice. The cardi- 
nals and bishops follow their example. No discipline, no 
fear of God is in them. Many believe in no God. The 
chastity of the cloister is slain, and they who should serve 

God with holy zeal, have become cold or lukewarm 

After the corrupted human race has abused for so many cen- 
turies the long-suffering of God, then at last the justice of 
God appears, demanding that the rulers of the people, who, 
with base examples, corrupt all the rest, should be brought 
to heavy punishment." 

Still his enemies had not been able entirely and success- 
fully to undermine him, or bring him into trouble with the 
authorities; and the people generally highly venerating 
him, the pope was for a time reluctant to proceed to ex- 
tremities. From 1495, however, the opposition to him 
gradually augmented, particularly among the bigoted and 
immoral portion of the community. Many insults and 
annoyances were attempted, apparently with a view to 



256 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

intimidate him and drive him from his post. The}^ set up 
a dead ass in his pulpit. They fixed sharp nails in the 
cushions along the edge in front of his pulpit, with the 
points upward, so that when he should strike his hands on 
the cushions he might inflict a severe wound. More than 
once his life was attempted to be taken, and mobs were 
raised for the purpose of exciting the passions of the worst 
of the populace. 

About midsummer of that year, the pope issued a cita- 
tion, requiring him, in moderate language, to "come as 
soon as might be to Rome, where he would receive him 
with paternal love!" Doubtless if he had trusted himself 
to this smooth invitation, he never would have lived to 
return to Florence. But he was sick at the time of its 
reception, confined to his convent, and attended by a phy- 
sician, so that the citation fell to the ground. He replied 
by stating his inability for the journey, and protesting his 
fidelity to the church. After this a brief was sent from 
Rome, prohibiting him from public preaching in Florence. 
But on the remonstrance of the city government this pro- 
hibition was withdrawn. "He resumed his labors," it is 
said, "with an amount of vigor in his denunciations 
against ecclesiastical abuses, such as he never before dis- 
played." 

In one of his sermons, after alluding to the troubles 
coming upon him, he addressed the Almighty with these 
emphatic expressions : "I am come to a deep sea, and now 
long for the haven once more ; and I look all around me 
for it, and I see no possibility of returning. I will say to 
thee, as the Prophet Jeremiah said (Jer. xx. 1, Yulgate 
version), ' Lord, thou hast persuaded me, and I have let 
myself be persuaded. Thou hast been too strong for me, 
and thou hast conquered. But I, on the contrary, have 
become a mockery — I am scoffed by every one.' Now, 



JEROME SAVONAROLA. 251 

Lord, that thou knowest I am at the mercy of this deep 
sea — thy will be done ! But I pray God for this one boon, 
that the thought of death may always with me be asso- 
ciated with a firm hope, and a constant thinking of the 
Lord. If thou givest me the living knowledge of the glory 
prepared for thy elect, I will fear no danger on the waves 
of this world, but in the midst of all the troubl^ that beset 
me, I will be firm and joyful. Now, Lord, I am content 
with the path thou hast persuaded me to go, for it is full 
of sweetness and holiness. I thank thee that thou hast 
thought me worthy to be made an arrow in thy quiver, 
and to make me, in sufferings and troubles, like unto thee !" 

In 1496, he received a second citation to Rome, accom- 
panied by threats of excommunication against himself if 
disobedient, and against the city government, unless they 
compelled him to obey it. For several months he refrained 
from preaching ; but at length, " at the instance of the au- 
thorities" of the city, and "the solicitation of vast numbers 
of respectable citizens," who represented to him the dis- 
orders that began to prevail again in Florence, he resumed 
his function, preaching, with even more earnest appeals 
than before, against the scandals given to religion, and the 
conduct of the dignitaries of the church. He said, " We 
must obey God, rather than man." 

He soon received another citation, peremptorily charging 
him to abstain from all preaching, until he should appear 
in Rome ; and a brief was sent to his convent, accusing him 
of blasphemy, rebellious language, craftiness, destructive 
doctrines, and of giving forth that he was sent from God. 
Yet the crafty pontiff, who was not yet sure but that he 
might bribe him to obedience, if he could not prevail by 
intimidations and the thunders of the Yatican, sent a con- 
fidential messenger to Savonarola, a " Master of the Sacred 
Palace ;" who, after many long discussions lasting three 



258 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

days, finding he could prevail nothing by mere persuasion, 
at length said to him, " It has pleased his holiness, having 
been informed of your virtue and wisdom, to desire to ele- 
vate you to the dignity of the office of a cardinal, provided 
you proceed no further with revelations of future events !" 
To this Savonarola replied, in the true spirit of the mar- 
tyrs, " The^ord save me from it ! The Lord save me from 
it ! — that I should resign the legation and embassy of my 
Lord !" The next day, from the pulpit, he alluded in a 
moving manner to his frequent warnings of the people, and, 
in allusion to the proffered dignity, made use of these 
solemn words, " I wish no other red hat, than that of the 
martyr's blood-stained crown !" 

On one occasion during this year, after a suspension of 
preaching for some time, he again addressed the people, 
and in allusion to the circumstance of his appearing to act 
in opposition to authority, he made use of the following 
expressions : — " I act, in coming here, in obedience to 
authority! To whom ? — Know then, that I have ascend- 
ed the pulpit to obey Him who is the Prelate of all pre- 
lates, the Supreme Pontiff of all popes, and who makes 
known to me what is contrary to His will, and in natare 
opposed to it. It would be much more willingly that I 
would repose ; but I cannot do otherwise than I do, be- 
cause I must obey ; and it is not as formerly, when I de- 
rived honor and glory from so doing ; for now, things and 

times are turning to tribulation My obedience, as you 

see, brings hatred on me, reproaches, mortal perils, and in- 
vectives from all quarters He who confides in his 

own strength, and not in God, is a proud man, and the 
pride of man is a great weakness." 

In the latter part of 1496, various conspiracies were con- 
cocted in Milan to assassinate Savonarola, and were de- 
feated only by the vigilance of the government. An attempt 



JEROME SAVONAROLA. 259 

was also made in the convent itself, to take his life by 
poison. 

At length the pope became exasperated by the discovery 
that Savonarola had been writing; to several sovereigns of 
Europe, calling on them to convoke a General Council to 
consider the sad condition of the church, and if possible to 
apply a remedy. Lodovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, whose 
fall from prosperity, and death in a prison, Savonarola had 
predicted (and which afterward came to pass), had inter- 
cepted two letters from Girolamo, one of which, to the Em- 
peror of Germany, held the following language: — " Under 
heaven, there cannot be a greater sin, than to prevent the 
true worship, of God, and turn it to the dishonor of the 
Divine Majesty ; which crying sin to leave unpunished, and 
affect not to see it, and what is urgently required (for a 
remedy), is no other than to give sin a sanction, and a sup- 
port to the enormous vices of men. For at present, in the 
church of God, we see a state of things in which, from head 
to foot, there is no soundness, but an abominable aggrava- 
tion of all vices ; you standing by quietly, and even bowing 
down to the great iniquity that usurps the seat of Peter, 
and which without shame runs into all disorders ; and it is 
now long that the church is without a true pastor. I testify, 
in verho Bomini, this Alexander the Sixth is not a Pon- 
tiff, and cannot be recognized as such. For, putting aside 
his wicked crime of simony, by means of which he bought 
the papal throne, and every day makes larger sale of eccle- 
siastical benefices, and by other manifest vices, I affirm, 
among other things, that he is not a Christian, and does 
not believe in the existence of God, which surpasses every 
species of infidelity. And before all the world, in oppor- 
tune time and place, I will discover his other occult vices, 
as my God has commanded me to do." And finally he 
solemnly calls upon the emperor "to have at heart the de- 



260 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

sire and the design to purify the church, and to liberate it 
from SQch astounding and contaminating pollution." 

The other intercepted letter was to the Queen of Spain, 
much to the same purport. These two letters it is sup- 
posed the Duke of Milan transmitted to his brother, the 
Cardinal Ascanio, at Rome. It is at least known that he 
sent to Ascanio another letter of Savonarola's of the same 
import, addressed to the King of France, urging him to call 
a General Council for remedying the calamities occasioned 
by the scandalous life of Alexander. From the time of his 
obtaining a knowledge of these letters the pope conceived 
''a deadly hatred" of the faithful friar, "which nothing 
could appease to the last hour of Savonarola's life." 

A brief of excommunication was issued from Rome, late 
in the spring of 149'7, both against Savonarola and against 
" all who abetted him, spoke with him, or attended his ser- 
mons." The Signoria of the city remonstrated against it 
in two appeals to the pontiff, but in vain. " Savonarola 
remained," says Madden, "a silenced and anathematized 
friar, scorned by his brethren of other orders, scowled on 
by the secular clergy, and, in the sight of the Borgias, a son 
of perdition, a sov/er of sedition, and a heretic. The father 
bore the ignominy with becoming meekness and resignation. 
He was advised to solicit the pope to remove the excom- 
munication, and acknowledge the errors imputed to him — 
but this he refused to do." 

Yet another, and an almost incredibly absurd attempt 
was made to corrupt him who had renounced all worldly 
property for conscience' sake, who had for years held as an 
abomination all bargaining in sacred things, and who had 
so recently refused to purchase the dignity of cardinal at 
the price of his faithfulness to apprehended duty. Cardinal 
Piccolomini of Sienna, subsequently Pope Pius III., wrote 
to Savonarola from Rome, " making a tender of his good 



JEROME SAVONAROLA. 261 

offices with the pope on certain conditions, more or less im- 
portant, for the removal of the excommunication, and un- 
dertaking to have that object effected, if he would pay the 
sum of 5000 scudi to his (the cardinal's) creditors in 
Rome!"* It is almost needless to add, that Savonarola 
declined to purchase such services. He replied, that he 
had preached the truth, and he would stand by it, though 
the earth should open beneath his feet, and the sky should 
fall on his devoted head. 

Things were now fast drawing to a crisis in Florence. 
The excommunication let loose upon Savonarola a state of 
open warfare, instead of covert and insidious attempts to 
undermine him. The agents of the Medicis and of' Sfotza 
were also secretly at work among the aristocratic party in 
the city, and among the Franciscan friars ; and soon a con- 
spiracy was discovered and frustrated, the object of which 
was to bring back the son of Lorenzo de Medici to tyran- 
nize as before over the liberties of the city. On this occa- 
sion Savonarola did not escape censure among .those who 
desired an occasion against him, on account of his not 
having interposed to prevent the execution of five of the 
citizens implicated in this conspiracy. It was said that he 
ought to have prevented the shedding of blood. But there 
is no evidence to prove that any intervention on his part 
would have been availing, in the highly excited state of the 
public mind at that time, when their recently-established 
republican government was threatened with destruction ; 
nor had Savonarola any other than advisory influence, and 
certainly no other authority whatever to meddle with the 
administration of justice, than attached to any one of the 
citizens having the welfare of the city at heart. 

But notwithstanding the discovery of this plot, the party 
opposed to Savonarola, before the middle of 149t, had in 

* Burlamacchi, as quoted by Madden, vol. i. p. 436. 

12* 



262 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

various ways insinuated themselves into power, and they 
gradually absorbed the authority of the state. The wealthy 
families, together with the corrupt portion of the citizens, 
the Franciscans, and the agents of Rome, proved too strong 
for the continued maintenance of power in the hands of the 
people who were on the side of morality and improvement. 
The government went into the hands of those who with 
scarcely an exception were hostile to Savonarola. The 
Signoria issued their command that he should preach no 
more. In his last sermon he said to the people, " Let the 
Lord do his work. He is the master of the forge who 
handles the hammer ; and when he has made use of it, he 
lays it not on what he has wrought, but casts it from him. 
Thus he did with Jeremiah, whom he permitted to be 
stoned to death when his preaching mission was accom- 
plished; and thus also will he do with this hammer, when 
he has used it after his own manner." 

The Franciscans now became more furious in their at- 
tacks upon him from the pulpit. Savonarola had more than 
once in his discourses expressed his willingness to seal the 
truth of his testimony, if needed, with his natural life. His 
enemies now took up this matter to make the most of it for 
his ruin They put forth a Franciscan monk to offer 
to undergo with Savonarola the ordeal of fire — a bar- 
barous relic of the dark ages — to test the truth of his doc- 
trines or their owq by the escape or destruction of either 
party. One of Savonarola's brethren, Domenico da Pes- 
cia, volunteered to accept the challenge on the part of Gi- 
rolamo. It is to be feared that Savonarola was not suffi- 
ciently firm on this occasion in discountenancing this 
antichristian and barbarous mode of settling the question ; 
though we have no evidence from history to show that he 
really approved of it. He seems to have taken up the 
persuasion that the infuriated populace demanded it, and 



JEROME SAVONAROLA. ' 2B3 

that there was no escape from it. The Signorial Council, 
anxious for his destruction, urged it forward, and without 
waiting to hear from Rome, made preparations in the 
spring of 1498 for its accomplishment. In the middle of 
the public square a platform was erected, and on it two long 
piles of wood and other combustible matter were placed, 
leaving a space between them for the passage of the two 
contestants. An immense crowd of people assembled at 
the appointed time. The Franciscans, however, when the 
matter came to the point, began to cavil against certain ar- 
rangements. They pretended a suspicion that Domenico 
da Pescia might have enchanted clothing upon him, and 
insisted on his removing them. This was complied with. 
They then quarreled with his intention of carrying the cru- 
cifix, or " the symbols of the sacrament," into the fire with 
him. This was a matter which da Pescia could not dispense 
with, and Savonarola also insisted on it. After a length of 
time consumed in this manner, the commissaries returned 
to the Signoria, and reported what had passed. "It now 
became manifest," says Madden, "that there w^as no serious 
intention on the part of the Franciscans to venture on the 
trial, but solely a purpose to protract discussions about ar- 
rangements, and to tire the patience of the people. The 
commissioners returned, and one of them said to Fra Giro- 
lamo, ' The Franciscans are raising so many objections that 
it is impossible to satisfy them. It may be truly said, that 
on your part there is nothing wanting. The failure has 
been on theirs.'" Savonarola said he feared it would not 
be possible to restrain the people. This pagan experiment 
having been thus frustrated, "the Signoria then sent a 
strong guard to protect them, and thus the Dominicans 
were conducted to their convent through an enraged pop- 
ulace, disappointed at not enjoying a great spectacle." 
It is much to be regretted that Savonarola ever gave 



264 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

aay countenance to such a proposal. But we must bear in 
mind the customs of those dark ages, from which society 
had not yet emerged ; we must remember that Girolamo, 
with all his piety and all his comparative enlightenment, 
was yet a monk, and subject, by his education and asso- 
ciations, to the influence of much of the bigotry and super- 
stition which hung over him like dark clouds, obscuring the 
brightness of that light which at times beamed with glow- 
ing effulgence upon his mind ; and we must also take into 
account the fact that this spectacle was not a new one in 
Florence, and was demanded b}^ the voice of a mob, thirst- 
ing for such a sight. 

Madden says : " On the evening of Friday, the tth of 
April, 1498, Savonarola retired from the Piazza, the scene 
of the proposed ordeal, to his convent, a doomed man. His 
enemies had effectually worked upon the evil passions of 
a giddy multitude, ignorant and superstitious, fickle, and 
prone to fanaticism, passionately fond of vSpectacles and 
pageants, and fierce and brutal in their anger w^hen their 
gratifications were interfered with. The Franciscans and 
their adherents circulated a statement among the populate, 
calculated to Bxcite them to some desperate act of outrage 
on the Dominicans, that Fra Girolamo and his associates 
wished to burn the blessed Eucharist, and were only pre- 
vented doing so by the Franciscans. This rumor, exten- 
sively circulated, produced feelings of great exasperation 
against the Dominicans. On the following Sunday even- 
ing, the 9th of April, a number of the faction hostile to 
Fra Girolamo congregated about the Duomo, and began to 
cry 'to San Marco! — to San Marco!' The crowd was 
augmented by a great many of the idle, dissolute youths of 
the city, who commenced arming themselves with stones. 
There were evidences of a preconcerted plan of attack on 
the convent and on the friars Some armed villains 



JEROME SAVONAROLA. 265 

met a young man of noble family going to the church of 
the Annunziata, and repeating to himself some devotional 
verses. They attacked him with their lances, exclaiming, 
' Villain ! still we have psalm-singing,' and slew him on the 
steps of the church of the Innocents. 

"Arrived at San Marco, they immediately commenced 
an attack on the chapel with a shower of stones, Avhile the 
monks were singing vespers. They waited for night before 

they made any attempt to break into the convent 

The doors of the convent were made as secure as possible 
by the monks, and the friends of the father, w4io had been 

able to gain admission, for his protection The father 

observing some of the monks with weapons in their hands, 
said to them, ' The arms of monks should be spiritual, and 
not carnal.' He desired those monks to throw down their 

weapons immediately Notwithstanding Fra Giro- 

lamo dissuaded his brethren from using arms in their de- 
fense, Fra Domenico da Pescia and some others assisted 
the citizens who had come to their assistance." But "the 
majority of the community remained with Fra Girolamo 

in prayer momentarily expecting death. Amid 

the horrid tumult, whenever there was a pause, they were 
heard singing all in unison, as if with one voice and mind, 
* Salvum fac populum tuum, Domine, et benedic hereditati 
tuae.'" Ps. xxviii. 9. 

Fire was, after a time, applied to the doors, and an en- 
trance thus effected by the furious rabble, who rushed in, 
with bloodshed, plundering, shouting, and shrieking, and a 
portion of them reached the choir, where Savonarola and 
some of the monks were still at prayer. On seeing them he 
calmly asked them what they wanted, and reproached them 
for the tumult. Meantime many attempts were made by the 
other monks and some citizens to-defend the place. The 
chapel became filled with smoke from the fires which had 



2G6 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

been kindled ; but Bnrlamaccbi says, " It appeared miracu- 
lous, that though there were about two hundred of the 
community congregated around the great altar in the choir, 
none were wounded there, though stones were almost in- 
cessantly flying in from the wmdows, and shots fired at 
them." Several were killed and wounded in other parts of 
the building. At length Savonarola was informed that 
artillery had been brought and planted in various places 
round the walls, to demolish the building. The commissa- 
ries of the Signoria made their way into the convent, and 
exhorted him to present himself before the Council along 
with Domenico and another friar, or otherwise the building 
would be totally destroyed. On receiving the order for 
their appearance in writing, along with a distinct promise 
that they should be safely restored to their convent, Savon- 
arola and the two other friars declared they would obey 
the command of the Signoria. But before leaving his 
brethren, he called the community together for the last 
time, in the Greek library attached to the convent. There, 
says Madden, quoting Burlamacchi, "he delivered an admi- 
rable exhortation to them in the Latin tongue, entreating 
them to standi fast in the faith, keeping their souls in 
patience, and acquiring fortitude by prayer. The road to 
heaven, he told them, was by tribulations, and they were 
not to allow themselves on any account to be cast down. 
He was ready to suffer all things with alacrity and content- 
ment, for the love of his Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that 
a Christian life consisted in doing good and enduring evil." 
It was now about five o'clock in the morning of -the 10th. 
After taking a little food, and speaking with his usual 
sweetness and serenity to those about him, he took his 
leave of his brethren, tenderly embracing them, and bidding 
them to persevere in the faith. " He then proceeded to the 
door of the library, where the commissaries, with arms in 



JEROME SAVONAROLA. 267 

their hands, were waiting for him and his two compan- 
ions." They bound his hands behind his back, and led him 
forth as a criminal. "No sooner did the prisoner issue 
forth from the convent, than a savage shout of exultation 
was raised, and the brutal populace rushed on the fettered 
prisoner, with the design of killing him on the spot ; and 
were only prevented with the greatest difficulty by the 
guard. But as he was led along the streets, the populace 
showered maledictions, filthy names, and ribald abuse on 
him, beat him with their fists, kicked him, and flung stones 
at him." 

The convent was plundered, and Savonarola was taken 
before the Signoria, with his two companions, Silvestro 
Maruffi and Domenico da Pescia. They were immediately 
examined, and to the inquiries put to Girolamo, he asserted 
that "those things which had been predicted by him were 
from God." Madden says, " This answer enraged the lords 
of Florence. The}^ seemed to require no further proof of 
guilt ; and forgetting the solemn pledge they had given of 
restoring the three friars to liberty, they gave directions on 
the spot to have them shut up in three separate places of 
confinement. And for the especial charge of the prisoners, 
and the conduct of the proceedings against them, they ap- 
pointed a magistracy of sixteen persons, all notoriously 
hostile to Fra Girolamo and his ministry." One of these 
sixteen, however, though opposed to Savonarola, very soon 
perceiving the great malignity of the measures against him, 
declared "he would not stain his hands with the blood of 
the innocent," and entirely left them. 

Savonarola and his fellow-sufferers were kept in prison 
forty-three days, and it is said that during that time Savon- 
arola was put to the torture seven times. On one of these 
occasions he cried out, in the agony of his sufferings, 
" Tolle, Domine, tolle animam meam !" But as soon as the 



268 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

torture was suspended, he dropped on his knees and prayed 
for those at whose hands he had endured those sufferings. 
During some of these occasions of torture, it is said by 
authorities hostile to him, that his enemies succeeded in 
extorting from the sufferer, in the extremity of his anguish, 
some ambiguous words, which they made the most of to 
spread the idea that Savonarola had confessed his error in 
assuming to predict future events. It is well known that 
the notary Ceccone, an abandoned character, whose hfe had 
been saved on a former occasion by Savonarola's kind inter- 
vention, was bribed by the offer of 400 scudi if successful, 
to endeavor to procure his benefactor's condemnation, and 
that this man, by the connivance of one of the judges, had 
a perverted and falsified account of the examinations by 
torture entered on the records of the court. It is, however, 
entirely possible, and perhaps probable, that Savonarola, 
during his sufferings, may have remembered that in some 
instances he had, through temptation and the frailty of hu- 
man nature, gone beyond what the Inspeaking Word of the 
Lord had revealed to his soul as the message to be deliv- 
ered to the people, and that he had added something from 
his own imagination, for which he felt now condemned ; and 
he may have confessed this in his agony, in tones more or 
less distinct, to his tormentors. But it is on the other hand 
certain, that during the intervals of suspension of the tor- 
ture, he warned them not to trust in words that might be 
spoken by him during the agony of suffering, when he 
might scarcely know what he was saying, and that he 
renewedly asserted his divine commission for his ministry. 
It is greatly to be regretted, if the weakness of nature in- 
duced him to say anything not true, either in exculpation 
or inculpation of his previous course ; yet, were it even 
so, it would only furnish another evidence of the liability 
of the servants of Christ, through unwatchfulness, to fall, 



JEROME SAVONAROLA. 269 

under great temptation, similar to the sorrowful case of 
the ardent and impulsive Peter, who denied his Divine 
Master even with cursing and swearing ! If even all that 
Savonarola's enemies allege respecting his confessing his 
error in predicting future events were correct, it was ac- 
knowledged that this was only during the tortures, and 
that afterward he recalled all such expressions. And 
where is the man that is sure he would not himself have 
given way under such excruciating sufferings? Trufy, 
it may be said, let him who has already made proof of his 
fidelity under such a trial, be the one to cast the first stone 
at Savonarola on this account. His enemies now deter- 
mined to make themselves sure of his condemnation, by 
"packing" the Great Council of the city. Shortly before 
the day of election " about two hundred citizens were ex- 
pelled from the Council," and when the elections took place 
"none but men of Hhe right sort,^^^ says Madden, "were 
returned. " 

Meantime, in his prison, during the intervals allowed 
him, Savonarola endeavored to prepare for the event which 
he knew well was approaching. Among other engage- 
ments he occupied himself with writing meditations on 
Psalm li. (1. in the Vulgate version), beginning, "Have 
mercy on me, God ! according to thy loving-kindness." 
He had some years before written commentaries on the 
other Psalms, omitting this one, and giving as a reason, 
that he would reserve this Psalm to the day of his own 
calamity. His remarks upon it, written within a few days 
of his death, touchingly evince a deep sense of his own sin- 
fulness and unworthiness, but also a reliance on the un- 
bounded mercy of the Most High through Christ our cru- 
cified and risen Lord. This effusion of the dying martyr 
fills about thirty octavo pages, in the English version of it 
given by Madden. 



2t0 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

At length, the public bemg admitted to the concluding 
scenes of the mocWrial, " in an assembly of some thousands 
of persons," says Madden, " by order of the magistrates, 
the notary Ceccone [the bribed man before mentioned] 
publicly read the false process. At the end, he said he had 
omitted all the unimportant matter, and read only that 
which was indispensably requisite, being 'unwilling to 
divulge secrets of state'!" 

" When, finally, it came to the question of condemning 
the prisoners to death, or sending them to Rome to be dealt 
with by the pope, the majority of votes appeared in favor 
of condemnation. Of the members of the Council, Agnolo 
Niccolini, a person of great experience in public affairs, 
spoke in the following terms to the assembly : — ' Magnifi- 
cent Signori, honorable magistrates, and most noble citi- 
zens — if we consider the history of the present time, and of 
past ages, we shall find that it would be difficult to meet, in 
any part of the world, a man of such excellent qualities, 
and of so high and noble an order of intellect, as this friar, 
of whose death we are now debating. Then, to lay to our 
doors the blood of so great and rarely gifted a man, whose 
like may not be born for many centuries, would seem to 
me to be an act too impious and execrable to be thought of 
by grave and prudent men. . It appears to me then, that it 
is not for us to quench a light like that, which is capable of 
giving lustre to the faith, even when it had grown dim in 
every other part of the world ; and not of shedding lustre on 
the faith alone, but on all the sciences, with the knowledge 
of which he is so fully endowed. I say, it appears to me, 
that if it were necessary, for the punishment of some fault, 
to imprison him, it should be in some safe place of custody, 
within some fortress if you choose, affording him commo- 
dious apartments, with pens, ink, and paper, and such 
abundance of books as he might desire to have. For in 



JEROME SAVONAROLA. 271 

this manner, I have no doubt that he would write most 
valuable books, in honor of God, leading- to the exaltation 
of our holy faith, and of a great utility to posterity. While 
consigning him to death, without utility of any kind, would 
bring on our republic, so honored and illustrious, 'perpetual 
dishonor and discredit in the minds of all men throughout 
the world.'" 

But this was all of no avail. They condemned this 
''man of such excellent qualities," and his two brethren to 
death ; and this condemnation was afterward ratified and 
sanctioned by two commissaries sent by the pope, who had 
heard of Savonarola's arrest, and was delighted at the an- 
ticipation of his destruction. The words of the sentence 
of condemnation ''show plainly and indisputably that Sa- 
vonarola was condemned on the charge of heresy, and on 
that alone." 

Savonarola and his companions were now taken from 
the great hall of the Council to the common prison, through 
a dense crowd of people, " who heaped on them all sorts 
of abuse and scandalous indecencies of language as they 
passed by. The officers of this new place of confinement 
were far more rigorous and cruel than their former jailers. 
They obliged the prisoners to sleep on the bare flags, with- 
out bedding or covering of any kind. They allowed them 
no lights at night, and prohibited any communication be- 
tween them. These officials were men degraded by de- 
bauchery and licentiousness to the lowest rank in the scale 

of human beings In their detestable jocularity, 

indignities of the grossest kind were offered to their pris- 
oners. Sometimes they were struck on the face to rouse 
them, and desired to perform some miracles to amuse their 
tormentors."* 

The prisoners received the intelligence of their condem- 

■* Madden, vol. ii. p. 88. 



212 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

nation with calmness. Savonarola spent most of the ensu- 
ing night in prayer. During a part of it, at his request, 
the three prisoners were allowed a brief interview, after 
which they were again separated. Wearied at length with 
hardships, tortures, and mental conflicts, and with the 
want of all outward comforts, the fettered Savonarola re- 
quested of a friendly priest, Jacopo JSTicolini, who attended 
him during the night, to be allowed to lay his head on his 
knees, in the absence of any other pillow, that he might 
take a little repose; and thus he took a short but very 
sweet sleep. On awaking, he expressed his obligation to 
his kind attendant, and added: ''You know what tribula- 
tions I have predicted for this city. To you will I com- 
municate the time of those terrible calamities. Know 
then, and bear it in jour mind, that they will come when 
there will be in the chair of Peter a pope named Clement." 
Nicolini made a note in his pocket-book of this prediction, 
sealed it, and placed it in a convent for safe keeping. It 
was, after many years, delivered into the hands of Pietro 
Soderini, Duke of Florence, who had heard of it and sent 
for it. Strange as it may appear, this prediction of the dying 
Savonarola was fulfilled in the year 1530, during the pon- 
tificate of Clement Yll.; when Florence was besieged and 
taken, after enduring great calamities, "having lost 8000 
citizens, and 14,000 men, foreigners enlisted in her service. 
The city was utterly impoverished; for the citizens had 
expended all they possessed for the maintenance of the 
troops. It was fall of lamentation and misery, of suspi- 
cions, strife, and suffering; it was scourged by the plague, 
which manifested itself still more violently after the capit- 
ulation, the imperial troops having been long previously 
infected by it."* 

In the morning, the prisoners were again allowed to 

* Madden, Life of Savonarola, vol. ii. p. 97. 



JEROME SAVONAROLA. 273 

communicate with each other, and after some religious ex- 
ercises, in which Girolamo supplicated for the forgiveness 
of his sins through the precious blood of Christ, who was 
now his Comforter, the officers of justice came to announce 
to them that the hour was come for their execution. Sev- 
eral platforms were erected in the principal square of the 
city, for the accommodation respectively of the bishop, the 
pope's commissaries, the civil authorities, and the execu- 
tioners with their scaffold of twenty feet high surrounded 
with a pile of fagots. The prisoners were led to the first 
tribunal in the Square, half naked and barefoot, where with 
a mock solemnity they were again clothed, only to have 
their sacerdotal garments taken from them by the hands of 
the bishop; who impiously said to Savonarola, "I deprive 
you of the church triumphant and militant !" Girolamo 
immediately replied, "Of the church militant, yes: but of 
the church triumphant, no; that does not belong to you.'' 
A person approaching him and inquiring whether his mind 
was calm and resigned to death, he replied, '' My Lord 
died innocent of all crime, for my sins; and shall not I 
willingly give my soul for the love of Him ?" Some per- 
sons offered him refreshments on his way; but he said, 
'* What need have I of those things, who am about to de- 
part from this world?" Many vile indignities were offered 
them while they ascended and stood on the scaffold. Savon- 
arola requested for decency's sake, that a tunic might be 
wrapt around his bare limbs when he was about to be sus- 
pended ; but this was barbarously refused. His two com- 
panions were then hung by the neck, and lastly the great 
Savonarola himself, the executioner pushing them off the 
platform after the rope had been adjusted round their 
necks, and then mocking them with antics, while life was 
departing from the bodies of the martyrs ! Scarcely had 
their spirits fled, when fire was kindled among the fagots 



214 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

under them; and the bodies being consumed, the ashes 
were thrown into the river Arno. The pope's brief, read 
aloud at the place of execution, designated Savonarola as 
"the son of blasphemy, the nursling of perdition, and the 
seducer of the people." 

Thus perished by the hand of bigotry, one of Italy's 
most gifted and most upright men, and one of the greatest 
among the forerunners of the reformation of the sixteenth 
century. Undoubtedly his true place is arnong the early 
reformers ; for although he did not testify against the doc- 
trinal errors of the Romish church, yet his life and teach- 
ing were a testimony against its corruption, and greatly 
tended to draw men from an implicit confidence in its au- 
thority, and to lead them to think for themselves respecting 
the all-important subject of religion, under the guidance of 
something better than lifeless dogmas and pompous cere- 
monies. 

The author whom we have so often quoted in reference 
to this eminent man, says of his death : " The 23d of May, 
1498, Alexander yi. sent Savonarola to the judgment-seat 
of God to answer for his efforts to renovate religion. The 
7th of August, 1518, Leo X. cited Luther to appear at 
Rome to answer for a revolution commenced against the 
church. Twenty years only bad elapsed since the attempted 
renovation Avas quenched in blood, bfefore the revolution 
broke out that was to shake the pillars of Catholicity, and 
even Christianity itself." 

A divine retribution seems to have visited several of the 
most violent persecutors of Savonarola. Ceccone, the 
bribed notary, it is said, only obtained one-tenth part of the 
four hundred scudi that had been promised him ; and after- 
ward, struck with remorse, or with vexation at not having 
obtained the wages of his iniquity, he disclosed the par- 
ticulars of the falsification of the report of the examina- 



JEROME SAVONAROLA. 275 

tion to several persons, among whom was Lucretia de 
Medici, a sister of Leo X. Tiiis wretched man, Bur- 
lamacchi relates, falling sick at his villa in Mugello, a 
very lonely and desert place, two Dominican monks called 
at the house for assistance, and were implored to visit him. 
Approaching his bed, they began to speak of the divine 
mercy to the dying man. But the word mercy seemed 
dreadful to him. " There Avas no mercy," he said, " for his 
guilt. Judas had betrayed only one just one, but he had 
betrayed three!" No words of comfort or exhortation had 
any effect; he died in their presence, despairing of salva- 
tion. 

The chief executioner, who had almost tumbled from the 
scaffold in making his mockery and antics while Savonarola 
by his hands was dying, perished himself on the scaffold 
some time afterward, being stoned to death by the mob for 
the bungling manner in which he had decapitated a young 
brigand. 

Corsini, one of the examiners, who had upbraided Sa- 
vonarola with the falsity of his predictions, lived just long 
enough to see those predictions fultilled, and died in a state 
of frenzy. 

Another of the examiners, Maretti, who was present at 
the torture of Savonarola, and "had the indecency as well 
as the cruelty to aggravate the sufferings of the prisoners 
by a scandalous indignity, perished miserably, without 
hope, crying out in terrible mental anguish, 'Oh, this hand I 
this hand ! The friar is torturing me 1' " 

One of the pope's commissaries, Romolino, receiving a 
large sum of money the night before the execution, soon 
returned to Rome with it, and bought a cardinal's hat ; 
but is said to have died a miserable death in Naples, 

Madden says of Savonarola's ministry: "In the abund- 
ance of the divine mercy, a mission was given to him from 



276 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

on high, to labor for the renovation of the church, as he 
most firmly and piously believed. And in the discharge of 
the duties of that mission, the conviction was never absent 
from his mind, that he was to encounter great trials, griev- 
ous sufferings, and eventually death. He had three weapons 
for the fearful struggle. 1. Ardent love for the honor and 
glory of Grod. 2. A spirit of prayer, that exalted his mind 
above all worldly influences, fears, and affections. 3. A 
power of preaching, in which the highest order of eloquence 
was united with a spiritualized piety, and a pervading 
stream of gospel light, that gave an unction to his sermons, • 
such as at once touched the hearts of all classes of his 
hearers, and was alike appreciated by the learned and the 
illiterate, the j^oung and the old, by men and women— and 
alike also by laity and clergy. All his cotemporaries are 
agreed on this point. And many of those in subsequent 
times, who have taken unfavorable views of his character 
in general, seem to leave the question of the power of his 

preaching undisputed He died in the struggle, and 

the enemies of truth and justice thought they had a signal 
triumph. But his death only served to send his opinions 
throughout the civilized world." 



JUAN VALDES. 277 



CHAPTER XIY. 

JUAN VALDES. 

This enliglitened man, who, though a laj^man, may be 
said to have been a preacher of righteousness ; who, 
though cotemporary with Luther, and in reality, though 
unconscious!}^, a colaborer with him., was nevertheless en- 
tirely independent of him, apparently without any commu- 
nication with him, and in some respects in advance of him 
in the experimental work of religion ; was one of those re- 
formers who did much to overturn the corruptions of senti- 
ment and practice in the Romish church, whhout directly 
opposing its claims to be the church of Christ. Like Mo- 
linos and Guion in the subsequent century, he remained 
within its pale, but was a thorn in the sides of the formal 
professors, whose corrupt practices were constantly testi- 
tied against by the Christian integrity of his own life, no 
less than through the flat contradiction which he gave to 
their tenets by the clear manner in which, both in his writ- 
ings and in his oral teachings, he upheld many of the truths 
of the gospel. McCrie* calls him the first who was active 
in spreading the reformed opinions in Spain. 

By many authors Juan de Yaldes appears to have been 
confounded with his twin-brother, Alfonso, who was Latin 
Secretary to the Emperor Charles Y. They were the sons 
of Hernando de Yaldes, a hidalgo of liberal estate and cir- 
cumstances, and were born about the end of the fifteenth 
century, probably in the mountain city of Cuenya, in the old 
Kingdom of Leon, in Spain, of which city their father was 

*■ History of the Reformation in Spain, p. 140. 

13 



278 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

hereditary Begidor, or Mayor. "^^ It was then a flourishing 
town, though now much declined ; but its picturesque posi- 
tion still remains, at the confluence of two beautiful streams, 
and rising like a terraced pyramid from luxuriant gardens, 
and rocks covered with creeping vines, which form its sub- 
urbs ; while the town itself climbs by steep and tortuous 
streets and lanes, tier above tier, and roof above roof, "up 
to the square and cathedral which occupy almost the only 
level space," and afford a lovely view of the valleys below. 

Of his early life, little is known, except that, together 
with his brother Alfonso, after leaving the paternal roof, 
he was educated in the court of Ferdinand and' Isabella. 
Juan had received a good knowledge of school learning, 
and of the original languages of the Holy Scriptures, the 
Hebrew and the Greek; which he failed not to make use 
of in his more mature life, in translating into Spanish the 
Book of Psalms from the one, and the gospel narrative of 
Matthew and some of Paul's epistles from the other. In 
the royal court, amid doubtless a great deal that was cal- 
culated to dazzle the minds of these youths and lead them 
into a love of the lustre and pleasures of this world, they 
had the advantage of the instruction of Pedro Martir de 
Angleria, a man of great attainments, and of sentiments 
decidedly favorable to a reformation of the corruptions of 
the Romish hierarchy. It was through his influence that 
Alfonso Yaldes w^as made Latin Secretary to the Emperor 
Charles Y. in the beginning of 1520, an ofiice which he 
retained for more than ten years. 

When Adrian of Utrecht, a friend of Erasmus, and an 
advocate of reform, was elected pope, in the year 1521, 
Juan de Yaldes accompanied him to Rome in the capacity 
of chamberlain ; an office, however, which, from the short 
reign of that pontiff, he held but for a few months. After 

* Wiflfen's Life of Juan de Valdes. Lond. 1865. 



JUAN VALDES. 2T9 

the death of Adrian, he rejoined his brother in Spain, in 
the court of the emperor. Respecting this portion of his 
Hfe, it is believed * that he has described his own condition 
in a Dialogue written a few years afterward. The expres- 
sions are as follows, attributed to a soul relating in the 
dialogue what passed during its life on earth: "When a 
youth, although 1 naturally loathed the vices, yet through 
bad companions I was held enslaved by them for many 
years. When I attained twenty years of age, I began to 
know myself, and to learn what it is to be a Christian. . . . 
But I did not lay aside vices that had become habitual. At 
twenty-five years of age I began seriously to reflect on my 
manner of life, and on my abuse of the knowledge God 
had given me. And I reasoned thus : either the doctrines 
of the New Testament are true, or they are not. If they 
are true, is it not gross folly for me to live as I am doing, 

in opposition to them ? Then God enlightened my 

mind ; and knowing the doctrines of the New Testament 
to be true, I determined to lay aside superstitions and 
vices in all their forms, and to occupy myself in following 
out the former to the best of my poor ability, although 
friends and relations placed immense obstacles in the way 
of my doing so. Some said I was going mad, and others 

that I was -about to turn monk But from love to 

Jesus Christ, I bore it all patiently." ''I was told 

that the monks had seldom opportunity to sin, compared 
with men living in ttie world. To which I replied, that 
sinful desire developed itself as fully inside a monastery as 
outside ; and, moreover, that sinful man never wanted, let 
him be where he may, time and opportunities for being so, 
and that those persons who hold themselves far above all 
temptation, frequently fall more heinously and more dis- 
gracefully. True it is that I was once inclined to turn 

* Wiflfen's Life of Valdes, p. 56. 



280 REFORMEBS AND MARTYRS. 

monk, to escape the indulgence of ambition; but on going 
to confess myself to a monk, my personal friend, he told me 
that ambition was as prevalent among them as among men 
outside. Whereupon I determined not to change my garb." 
And in another work, the " Dialogo de la Lengua," some- 
what celebrated as a lively treatise on certain elegancies of 
the Spanish language, he says of this period of his life : 
" Ten years, the best of mj^ life, which I spent in palaces 
and courts, I did not employ myself in more virtuous ex- 
ercises than in reading these lying romances, in which I 
took so much relish, that I ate my food with the books in 
my hand. And notice what a thing it is to have a de- 
praved taste. For if I took in hand a work translated 
from the Latin that was true history, or at least what was 
held as such, I had not patience to read it." 

The Dialogue first quoted, shows also the estimation in 
which he held the superstitious practice of pilgrimage, so 
much relied on in the dark ages: — " Did you ever go on a 
pilgrimage ? — No ; because it seems to me that Jesus Christ 
manifests himself everywhere, to those who truly seek him ; 
and because I saw many who returned from pilgrimage 
worse than when they set out. And it likewise appeared 
to me to be an act of folly, to seek at Jerusalem what I 
had ivithin me.'''' 

This dialogue was mainly a conversational development 
of the history of those troubled times which followed the 
battle of Pavia, and in which Charles Y. and Francis I. 
bore so prominent a part. Another treatise in the same 
conversational form (the ''Dialogo di Lactancio") was com- 
posed by himself and his brother* about the year 1528 ; in 
which they attributed the recent dreadful sacking of Rome 

■-•■ M. Young (Life of Paleario) states that both these Dialogues were 
written by Alfonso; but from Wiffen's account it seems probable that the 
twin-brothers were jointly concerned in each. 



JUAN VALDES. 281 

to the divine displeasure for the vices of that city and of 
the hierarchy, and brought into view many subjects rela- 
ting to the corruption of religion. On the subject of war, 
they express the following sentiments : — ''All (brute) ani- 
mals are naturally provided with defensive and offensive 
arms ; but to man, as a creature come down from heaven, 
impersonating perfect concord, as an object that should 
here represent the image of God, He left him disarmed. 
It was His will there should prevail amongst men a har- 
mony, rivalling that amongst the angels in heaven, Alas ! 
that we should now have become so excessively blind, that, 
more brutish than the brutes themselves, we should kill 
each other ! . . . . Where do you find that Jesus Christ com- 
manded his people to go to war ? Peruse all the gospels, 
peruse all the apostolic epistles, you will find nothing but 
peace, concord, unity, love, and charity. When Jesus 
Christ was born, the angels did not sound an alarm, but 
they sang, ' Glory to God in the highest, and on earth 
peace and good will unto men.' He gave us peace when 
he was born, and peace when he suffered on the cross. 
How frequently did he enjoin peace and love upon his 
people ! And not even satisfied with this, he besought his 
Father that his people should be at one amongst themselves, 
as he with his Father." .... ''We call ourselves Chris- 
tians, and Ave live worse than Turks and brute beasts. If 
the Christian doctrine appear to us to be a farce, why do 
we not wholly give it up, that so, at least, we might not so 
frequently and deeply insult Him, fi'om whom we have re- 
ceived so many benefits ? But since we know it to be true, 
and pride ourselves on being called Christians, and treat 
with contempt those who are not so, why do we not seek to 
be such in reality? Why do we live as if there were 
neither faith nor law amongst us ?" 

In this work Yaldes inveighed boldly against the pope 



282 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

for undertaking to provoke a war against the emperor. He 
says, "What Jew, Turk, Moor, or Infidel will now ever 
wish to come to the faith of Jesus Christ, since our expe- 
rience of His Yicar's works is such ? Which of them will 
ever serve or honor him ? . . . . Does it appear to you that 
this is the mode of teaching Christian people ? . . . . Does 
it appear to you that these are the works of Jesus Christ ? 
Does it appear to you that this dignity was instituted 
to the end that the Christian body should be destroyed 
by it ?" 

He also exposed in this treatise many of the gross cor- 
ruptions of religion then prevalent. A few extracts from 
his remarks on the popular superstitions of the day, may 
serve to show in some degree the heathenism tiiat had be- 
come mixed with the Christianity (so called) of that period. 
After mentioning many great absurdities in the way of 
pretended relics, which, he says, even if true, "are stum- 
bling-blocks to cause men to fall into idolatry," he exclaims, 
"How far are we from being Christians ! How opposed 
are our works to the doctrine of Jesus Christ ! How laden 
are we with superstitions ! And according to my views, 
the whole proceeds from the pestilential avarice and pest- 
iferous ambition which now reign among Christians more 
absolutely than they ever previously did," .... "He that 
would honor a saint, let him labor to follow his saint-like 
virtues. We now-a-days, instead of doing so, hold bull- 
fights on his feast-day, and practise other levities. We say 
that we hold it devout, to kill four bulls upon St. Bartholo- 
mew's day, and that were we not to kill them, we should 
have cause to fear that he would lay our vines waste with 
hail ! What greater heathenism than this could you ad- 
duce ? . . . . Would you see another similar heathenism 
no less glaring than this ? Look how we have distributed 
among our saints the offices held by the gods of the heathen. 



JUAN VALDES. 283 

The god Mars has been superseded by St. James and St. 
George, Neptune by St. Elmo, Bacchus by St. Martin, 

^olus by St. Barbara, Yenus by the Magdalen, etc 

I know not to what these inventions tend, unless it be to 
give us a wholly Pagan character, to divert us from that 
love to Jesus Christ, which we ought to cherish for Him 
alone, by giving us the habit of asking that of others, 
which, in truth, He alone can give us Hence it comes to 
pass, that some think because they rehearse a mass of 
psalms, or handfiils of rosaries ; some because they don the 
habit of a Franciscan or of a Merced ; some because they 
do not eat meat on Wednesdays ; some because they dress 
in blue or orange, that they indeed come short in nothing 
of being very good Christians; retaining, on the other 
hand, their envy, rancor, avarice, ambition, and other sim- 
ilar vices, as fully as though they had never heard tell what 
it is to be a Christian." 

The pope's nuncio at the court of Spain was highly in- 
dignant at the contents of this treatise, and sought to 
bring the authors of it into trouble with the Spanish In- 
quisition. Juan, being a private individual, was most open 
to the danger of being called to account; and Alfonso, 
knowing this, assumed the whole responsibility of the au- 
thorship, thus screening his brother under the shadow of 
his own official position. The process was commenced 
against them both, but the nuncio, receiving Alfonso's as- 
sumption of authorship, thundered forth a threatening 
reply, and soon after died, early in the year 1529. 

But the danger to the brothers did not cease with the 
death of Castiglione. The anger of the friars and Romish 
party was aroused, and might have proceeded to extremi- 
ties had not circumstances about this time taken both the 
brothers out of Spain. The emperor, soon after midsum- 
mer, took his departure to meet the pope at Bologna, Al- 



284 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS, 

fonso being a part of his suite ;* and Juan, feeling increas- 
ingly unsafe in his isolated condition, and desiring to be 
placed in a position of more freedom for the expression of 
his convictions, left his native country, and proceeded to 
Naples. It does not appear, however, that he waited for 
his brother's actual departure with the emperor, but proba- 
bl}^ left for Italy early in the spring. In Naples he soon 
became acquainted with various intelligent and virtuously 
disposed persons, and spent much time with some of them 
afterward in facilitating a thorough acquaintance with the 
Spanish language. After a few months he visited Rome, 
where he spent about two years, and then returned to 
Naples. It has been said that he here occupied the position 
of secretary to the Spanish viceroy, Don Pedro de Toledo. 
He was in the practice of assembling his intimate 
friends, at times, for social conversation on instructive 
topics, often mingling with it the perusal of Holy Scrip- 
ture. A series of conversations of this kind at his country 
residence, near the promontory of Pausilippo, overlook- 
ing a beautiful part of the bay of Naples, when the 
main subject of conversation turned on the elegancies 
of the Spanish language and literature, and was, without 
his knowledge, taken down secretl}^ in short-hand, was af- 
terward, at the urgent entreaty of his friends, written out 
at large by Juan, and circulated among his acquaintances, 
under the title of " Dialogo de la Lengua." It was first 
printed about two hundred years after his death. Of this 
treatise his biographer, Wiflfen, speaks as "a production of 
great beauty, which will be read with pleasure by every 

"* McCrie says (Hist, of Reformation in Spain, p. 131, etc.) that Alfonso 
was in company with the emperor at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530, be- 
came acquainted there with Melnncthon, translated the Augsburg Con- 
fession into Spanish, and exerted his influence with Charles V. in favor of 
the Lutherans, but that on his return to Spain he was (p. 134) condemned 
by the Inquisition. This is the last we hear of him. 



JUAN VALDES. 285 

student of the Spanish language, for its intelligence and 
discriminating good sense." 

In 1536, Charles Y. passing through jN'aples from Tunis 
to Rome, Juan Yaldes accompanied him to that city, and 
on that prince's departure, returned to Naples, making his 
residence there for the rest of his life. He is described at 
this time as a man " of a fair countenance, very sweet man- 
ners, and soft and attractive speech, professing a knowledge 
of languages, and of the Holy Scriptures." It appears 
that from the time of his permanently settling in Naples, 
his mind deepened in a knowledge of divine things. His 
most important and instructive works were written during 
the few short years of his life that elapsed from that event 
to the time of his death. Wiffen says that ''he devoted 
himself to study, and the improvement of his own moral 
and intellectual nature. His society was sought by such 
of the nobility as w^ere most distinguished for piety and 
learning. . . . His religious teaching was of a private and 
individual character. It was attained by personal moral 
Influence of a remarkable kind, by conversations, and letters 
on special subjects and occasions." Among his most inti- 
mate friends, and, as we may say, disciples, were Peter 
Martyr Yermeglio, many years afterward the hospitable 
host, at Zurich, of the exiled Bishop Jewel, of England ; 
Bernardino Ochino, a well-known preacher in Naples, of 
whom Charles Y. said that " his eloquence might make the 
very stones shed .tears," and who was afterward invited 
by Cranmer into England; Fabio Mario G-aleota, a Nea- 
politan, who was some years afterward confined in the 
Inquisition, but escaped on the occasion of the populace 
attacking that dreaded and hated institution on the death 
of Paul lY. ; Caserta, a learned and wealthy man, an 
ardent disciple of Peter Martyr, who many years after- 
ward testified his constancy by suffering death in the 

13* 



286 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

market-place of Naples; Flammio, a Latin poet, and a 
''man after Yaldes's own spirit ;" Carnesecchi, who though 
at one time secretary to Pope Clement YII., was after- 
ward engaged in procuring the publication of some of the 
writings of Valdes, and being accused at Rome of holding 
erroneous sentiments, was burned at the stake in 156T, 
There were also among those who enjoyed his society and 
instruction some pious and noble women, particularly Yit- 
toria Colonna, Marchioness of Pescara, whose residence on 
the island of Ischia was only about three miles from Pau- 
silippo ; and Giulia Gonzaga, Duchess of Trajetto, "the 
one who drank deepest of his instructions, and toward 
whom his mind was most forcibly brought into exercise. 
Her noble faculties, her pursuit of the highest virtue, and 
the loveliness of her mind and person, alike engaged his 
regard. He longed to lead her into the way of Christian 
perfection by the royal road of the Gospel, and strove to 
guide her in the path by the most assiduous endeavors."* 
To her he presented a volume, detailing a conversation 
which had passed between them on religious subjects, 
and which he modestly entitled "Alfabeto Christiano," 
telling her that she might therein, as a first book, "learn 
the rudiments of Christian perfection, "and afterward "leave 
the alphabet, and apply her soul to things more important, 
more excellent, more divine." In his epistle addressing the 
work to her, after warning her against a reliance on the 
mere writings of men, in her pursuit after Christian per- 
fection, he gives her the following advice : " Now, desiring 
that your ladyship m-dj never judge yourself perfect, but 
that you may be so in reality, both in the view of God and 
of the world, I wish you not so to read this composition, 
nor to hold it in greater estimation than ought to be given 
to the writings of one who, desirous to gratify you in this 

* Wiffen's Life of Valdes, p. 109. 



JUAN VALBES 287 

Christian object, only points out to you tlie way by which 
you may arrive at Christ himself, and become united to 
Him. And I desire that jonr Christian intention may be 
to make Christ the peaceful possessor of your heart, in such 
a manner that He may absolutely and without contradic- 
tion rule and regulate all your affairs." 

The dialogue was a protracted one, embracing many 
subjects connected with the Christian life; but we may 
venture on a few striking extracts, showing Juan's deeply 
spiritual views, and his characteristic method of instilling 
them. Giulia Gonzaga had developed to him her state of 
inquietude and perplexity respecting the condition of her 
soul. " Yaldes : — Then, in order to understand whence pro- 
ceed the travail and confusion which jou say you have felt 
for so many years, I wish you would turn over in your mem- 
ory how man is made in the image and likeness of God. 

" Giulia : — Let me understand what this image and like- 
ness of God is. 

''Yaldes : — I wish rather that St. Paul may explain it to 
you ; and thus you will understand it by what he says to 
the Colossians, where, admonishing them to speak the 
trutif one to another, he counsels them to 'put off the old 
man with his deeds, and to put on the new man, who is 
renewed in knowledge conformable to the image and like- 
ness of Him who created him.' And you will also understand 
it by what St. Paul again says to the Ephesians, remind- 
ing them that by becoming Christians, they have learned 
to put off the old man, and to be renewed in the spirit, and 
clothed with the new man, who is created in the image and 
likeness of God. From this, it appears that in whatever 
degree a man possesses and retains in himself the image 
and likeness of God, in the same measure he sees and 
knows, understands and relishes spiritual things in a spir- 
itual life and conversation. This truly known, and what 



2 88 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

objects you set before your mind well scrutinized, you will 
understand clearly how all the inquietude, all the travail, 
all the confusion joii feel, arise ; because your soul desires 
you to procure its restitution to the image of God." . . . 
" This state of mind that happens to you ever befalls worldly 
persons, who, having attained to a reflective intellect and 
clear judgment, l^nowing truly that their souls find not, nor 
ever can find, entire satisfaction in outward things, turn 
themselves to seek for it in things relating to the mind. 
Yet, as the supernatural light, by which alone truth is dis- 
covered, seen, and known, is wanting to them, they go 
wandering in a labyrinth of appearances and opinions. 
And thus some seek happiness in one thing, some in an- 
other. . . . All these persons deceive themselves, and can 
never shadow out, nor reach to the symbols of the things 
in which true happiness consists ; who, if they had had a 
little of the light of faith, would most easily, and with the 
grace of God, have acquired it ; and thus they would have 
quieted and pacified their souls. Do yoa now understand 
the cause whence your inquietude, confusion, and labor 
proceed ? 

"Giulia: — Yes, very well." *" 

"Yaldes [after some intervening conversation]: — We 
are all born and created to know God, to believe God, to 
love God, and after our present existence to enjoy God. 
And yet there are some who feed on the pleasures of this 
world, not only delighting and giving themselves up to rest 
in them, but who are wholly forgetful of that other life for 

which they were created Like him who knows how 

to taste of the things of this Avorld, yet does not enjoy them 
as things suitable to his better nature, or that will be last- 
ing, but looks at them as the curious beholder views them, 
turning away from the recreations and banquets offered to 
him by the way ; so I wish you, Signora, to act. Turn 



JUAN VALDES. 289 

within yourself , o^^en the ears of your soul, so that you 
may hear the voice of God ; and think as a true Christian, 
that in this life you can have no other real contentment 
and ease, than what will come to you by means of the 
knowledge of God, through the faith and love of God. Set- 
tle your mind in this consideration; most earnestly putting 
aside all those things that are transitory and cannot endure. 
Doing this, I promise that you will occupy a much shorter 
time in quieting, soothing, and giving peace to your mind, 
than you have spent in disturbing it." 

After some conversation on the necessity of banishing 
self-love entirely from the heart, so that the Holy Spirit 
may come and dwell there, Yaldes instructs his friend, that 
there are three w^ays of acquiring some knowledge of God 
— the first, by the light of nature, and reading in the vol- 
ume of created things — the second, by reading the Holy 
Scriptures, as the Hebrews through the Old Testament — but 
" the third way of knowing God is by Christ. This way 
is the certain, clear, and safe way; this is the straight, 
royal, and noble way. And be assured, Signora, that in 
knowing God through Christ, consists the whole being of 
a Christian ; for to know God through Christ, it is neces- 
sary first to know Christ himself. And because we cannot 
know Christ by the light of nature, nor by other human 
industry, if God does not internally illumine and open the 
vision of our souls, I say, that this knowledge of God 
through Christ is a supernatural knowledge, for which the 
special grace of God is necessary. And that it is the 
truth, that we cannot have the true knowledge of God ex- 
cept through Christ, Christ himself demonstrates, saying, 
' No man can come to me, except the eternal Father draw 
him.' And he shows it again by his answer to Peter, when 
Peter acknowledged him to be the true Son of God, saying 
to him, 'Blessed art thou, Simon, son of Jonas, for this 



290 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

thou hast not gained by human reason, nor by the light of 
nature, but my Father who is in heaven has revealed it 
unto thee.' .... In order that this exercise may be profit- 
able, it is proper that you should learn to know Christ, not 
by knowledge gained by custom, nor acquired b}^ the intel- 
lect and human industry, but by the light of faith inspired 
by the Holy Spirit. It is needful for you in this manner 
to learn rightly to know Christ, if you wish to come per- 
fectly to know God through Christ Now this secret 

cognizance is what I said persons must come to by inspi- 
ration ; and therefore we should not think the public ac- 
knowledgment of Christ sufficient. An assassin or a traitor 
has such. St. John undeceives us, saying, 'He thatsaith, 
I know Him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar.'" 
And respecting regeneration, Yaldes tells his friend, "The 
spiritual resurrection is when through dying to the ' old 
man,' we come to be revived in the ' new man.' This is the 
passing from death unto life ; and thus as Christ, through 
dying, came to the resurrection, so we by denial of self come 
to the 'newness of life.' And this is what- Christ said to 
Nicodemus, ' Except a man be born of water and of the 
Holy Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.' " 

And further on, he tells her, — " Finally, when you shall 
feel and enjoy so much of the sweetness and love of Christ 
here in this world, as is to be felt and enjoyed, taking this 
sense and enjoyment for an earnest of what you will yet 
have to feel and enjoy in the other life, to which you will 
expect certainly to go, to rejoice perpetually with Christ, 
you will not hesitate to confess the Life Eternal. And now, 
when you possess such inward experience, yours will be 
living and true faith, because you will have the experience 
of it within you.'^ 

After conversing upon various other topics, Yaldes con- 
cludes the whole by the following advice : '' Be careful that 



JUAN VALDES. 291 

you always entreat God that he would guide and conduct 
you by his grace, without ever consenting to withdraw 
yourself from Him. Because this is the way to arrive at 
Christian perfection, and to enjoy Christian liberty, to 
which, when y^ou shall become united, you will be able 
with truth to say with the prophet David, ' The Lord is 
my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie 
down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside the still 
waters.'" 

We have already seen that Juan de Yaldes translated 
the Book of Psalms from the Hebrew into the Castilian 
or Spanish language. He also wrote translations of Paul's 
Epistle to the Romans, and the First Epistle to the Corin- 
thians, from the Grreek, adding simple and practical com- 
mentaries on the text, which he had already read to his 
friends at their usual gatherings at his house. After com- 
menting on a passage of Romans, he modestly says, " This 
is all the knowledge that I can attain of this divine epistle 
at present, having availed myself of my two books, prayer, 
and consideration. These books have helped me as far as 
prayer has been aided by the Holy Spirit, and as far as 
consideration has been helped by personal experience and 
daily reading. And I hold it for certain, that in proportion 
as the spirit has been more fervent and the hope greater, 
the apprehension of St. Paul's words will have been more 
perfect, prayer and consideration having been more aided." 

In his commentary on I. Cor. i. It — "Not with wisdom 
of words," etc. — he says : "And this desire of knowledge 
is to such a degree pernicious and dangerous, that even in 
the reading of the Holy Scriptures it injures the mind, 
when the reader is not very guarded, lest he should be 
guided by curiosity and self-esteem. And I understand 
that a man reads the Holy Scriptures with curiosity, when 
he does so solely with the view of acquiring knowledge. 



292 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

And I understand that a man reads the Holy Scriptures 
with self-esteem, when he avails himself of his knowledge 
to talk about them and criticise them. And should some 
one ask me, ' With what purpose may I then come to read 
the Holy Scriptures V I shall answer him, for the purpose 
of personal edification, reading them at times for your con- 
solation under tribulation and affliction, and at other times 
to awaken in your mind fresh desires after God, and to 
conceive fresh views of spiritual and divine things; and, 
again, in order that the same reading may be to you as a 
testimony of what God shall give you inwardly to feel and 
know of your own soul. And one of the greatest advan- 
tages in reading the Holy Scriptures is, that the man doing 
so ascertains the extent to which his feelings and expe- 
rience concur with those of [other] persons who possess 
the Holy Spirit And, returning to St. Paul, I under- 
stand that by the expression, 'Not with wisdom of words,' 
he means to say, God sent me to preach the gospel ; and 
this with no ornate discourse blended with science and 
human wisdom ; and this, lest the cross of Christ should be 
made of no effect; which would be made of no effect, were 
I to preach the gospel after such fashion ; for men would 
attribute the effect of my preaching, not to the efficacy 
which there is in the cross of Christ, but to the efficacy of 
my words." 

On the passage, Rom. x. 15, he remarks: ''So that all 
the force of St. Paul's words consists in this, ^except they 
he senV And hence it is easy to understand why our 
preachers do not move the hearts of men, withdrawing 
them from .the world to God, and separating them from 
themselves for Christ, and making them more readily 
accept the grace of the gospel. The reason is, because 
they are not sent; because they are not apostles; and that 
may be affirmed of them, which God says by Jeremiah 



JUAN VALDES. 293 

(xxiii. 21), 'I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran; 
I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.' Here 
likewise it is to be understood, that they who preach Chris- 
tian things, not being apostles of Christ, do not preach 
Christ, however much they may use his name in the pulpit. 
But they preach themselves, their own fancies and imagi- 
nations, that which they imagine and invent, taking Christ 

as their subject. To preach Christ, it is necessary 

that the preacher be an apostle, sent of God to preach 
Christ, he having accepted the righteousness of Christ. 
Those who have not accepted it do not understand it ; and 
not understanding it, they are ill able to preach it, nor can 
they make their hearers understand it. Besides, all they 
may say will be opposed to it, because the human mind 
[of itself] is incapable of receiving it. " 

Commenting on the next two verses of the same chapter, 
he remarks thus respecting Christian ministry: "I under- 
stand that St. Paul, employing this expression, 'our report,' 
infers that man cannot believe unless it be told what it is 
he has to believe, and that the mere telling is inadequate 
unless the individual telling him be inspired, moved, and 
sent by God to tell him it ; so that the whole transaction 
depends upon the mere will of God who inspires the 
speaker, instructing him what to say, and disposing the 
listener to hearken Hence, the apostles, the minis- 
ters of Christ, are called in the Holy Scriptures, the mouth 
of God, because God speaks by them and in them. By 
this one may understand well what God speaks by Esaias 
(Iv. 11), 'That the word which goeth forth from his mouth 
shall not return unto him void, but that it shall accomplish 
that w^hich he pleases.' And hence we may understand 
hoAV necessary it always is, that, following the advice 
which Christ ga^e to his disciples, and which he gives to 
all of us, we should ask God that he would send among 



294 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

US persons who shall speak the words of God; that they 
speak, being inspired, and not taught of men; speaking by 
divine experience, and not by human science." 

Yaldes addressed the translation of the Psalms and 
Epistles to his friend Griulia Gonzaga, prefixing to the 
Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans a letter of 
Christian counsel to the duchess, concluding with the fol- 
lowing excellent advice: ''The object for which you set 
yourself to read St. Paul, is not to comprehend all that St. 
Paul says; but to form your mind by that which God gives 

you to understand, and feel, and relish, in St. Paul 

But all these advices [of mine] are as nothing. There is 
yet another of more value than all of them. This is, that 
whenever you take St. Paul in hand, you commend yourself 
to G-od, praying Him to send his Holy Spirit, who may 
guide you in this reading ; and seek to receive it by means 
of the only-begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord, to 
whom be glory forever, amen!" 

We now come to that which appears to have been his 
latest, as it was his largest and most important work, " The 
Hundred and Ten Considerations ;" which has recently been 
translated anew from the Italian by John T. Betts, and pub- 
lished with Wiffen's account of his life and writings. This 
work also Juan addressed to Giulia Gonzaga, for whose 
religious welfare he was so deeply interested. These '' Con- 
siderations," embracing some of the most important doc- 
trines of the Christian religion, though not free from error, 
and perhaps too speculative on some subjects, are extremely 
Interesting to the serious reader, showing as they do the 
workings of a very original mind, accustomed to deep 
though tfulness on the things that accompany salvation, and 
cherishing a dependence on the teaching of that Spirit 
which was promised by the Saviour to lead us into all 
truth. It is very clear that Juan de Yaldes derived great 



JUAN VALDES. 295 

advantage from never having pursued his early inclination 
to become a monk, nor entangled his intellect in the sophistry 
and false philosophy taught in the theological schools of that 
day. He was thus left at liberty to think and feel for him- 
self on subjects of the highest importance, as he knew them 
to be, to his immortal soul. During the latter portion of 
his life especially, he was deeply in earnest in his search 
after divine truth, as the greatest good. And though en- 
compassed with the thick darkness of the Romanism of 
Spain and Italy in that day of superstition, and in some 
points of doctrine biassed by the prevailing views, yet 
looking to the Holy Spirit for instruction, he became won- 
derfully enlightened in regard to the spiritual nature and 
inward efficacy of true religion, and looked over the for- 
malities of the papal system, as something that did not 
concern him, while his soul was ardently pursuing the sub- 
stance. We must here be satisfied with a few scattered 
extracts from this very original treatise. Written by Yaldes 
in Spanish, it was printed in Italian at Basle ten years after 
his death, and has since been translated and published in 
various languages. 

From Consideration x. — *' I am clearly of opinion, that 
he who believes, without having been taught by the Spirit 
of God, relies more upon opinion than upon faith, and is 
ever involved in error and false conceits. Whence it should 
be understood, that when a man believes alike all the state- 
ments made to him, he is without the Spirit of God; he 
believes upon report, by human suasion, and by received 
opinion, and not by revelation, nor by inspiration. And it 
being true that the Christian's happiness does not consist in 
believing merely, but in believing through revelation, and 
not by report, — we are to conclude that the Christran's 
faith is not what is based upon report, but that the Chris- 
tian's faith is by revelation alone : and this is what makes 



296 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

US happy ; it is what brings with it love and hope ; and is 
what purifies the heart, and is in every respect pleasing to 
God. May we be enriched with it by God himself, through 
Jesus Christ our Lord!" 

From Consideration xii. — ''The first man, proud of his 
reason, wished to know God without God ; as if one wished 
to see the sun without the sun; and he deprived himself of 
the knowledge of God, and was left to the government of 
his own reason. And he, and all men who have imitated 
him, seeking to know God simply with their reason, by 
means of the Scriptures and of the creature, are still more 
rash than those who, not wishing to see the sun by the 
sun, attempt to see it by the light of a candle. Now, this 
being true, we understand that God has placed reason in 
man, in order that he, by it, may know God; but it must 
be by God, and 7iot by his own speculations. It is well 
that God requires man to mortify his reason, so far as it 
presumes to know God, and the things of God, by itself 
alone, without the Spirit of God, — if he desire to know 
God and to abide in His kingdom in the way it behoves 
him to do. Of this mortification we have already spoken 
many times, and said it is that which is revealed to us by 
our Lord Jesus Christ." 

From Consideration xxiii. — "Finding my mind wholly 
sterile and dried up, and as it Avere alienated from God, and 
understanding that this proceeded from God's having hid- 
den his presence from me, I thought to remedy this my 
necessity by imposing on my memory that it should occupy 
its meditations with God solely. Scarcely had I conceived 
this pm-pose — scarcely had I begun to put it in execution, 
than I understood that, although it be in my power to oc- 
cupy my memory in meditation upon God, as upon any- 
thing else, still, however, it is not in my power to cause my 
mind to feel the presence of God, and thus free it from 



JUAN VALDES. 297 

barrenness, aridity, and alienation from God. Moreover, 
I understood what an utter difference there is between the 
state of the soul when it labors to realize the presence of 
God, from that in which it is when God makes it conscious 
of His presence. And being desirous of knowing in what 
this difference consisted, I perceived it consisted in this, that 
in one instance there is the operation of the human mind, 
and in the other that of the Holy Spirit; and thus I con- 
cluded that the same difference exists between these two 
states of mind, that there is between flesh and spirit." 

From Consideration xxxvi. — ''Among the Jewish people 
there were some who applied themselves to the law from 
inspiration, and others from opinion. They who applied 
themselves to the law from opinion — knew the Jewish 
bondage, but did not practise it as was right ; because, 
being ruled by their own spirit, they were in some 
things superstitious, and in other things licentious. They 
who applied themselves to the law from inspiration, and 
exercised themselves in it as was right, desiring its prom- 
ises and fearing its threats, these knew the Jewish bond- 
age, seeing that they must ever remain bound to the law; 
and they exercised themselves in it as was fit, holding 
themselves to be bondsmen and dependent upon the will of 
God, because, being ruled by the Holy Spirit, who inspired 
them to fulfil the law, they became pious, holy, and just. 
Thus Jewish bondage was brought about by the law, and 
was known when men applied themselves to the observance 
of the law, and was exercised when the application pro- 
ceeded from the Holy Spirit. On the other hand. Chris- 
tian liberty consists in the abrogation of the law ; which 
was wholly abrogated at the coming of the Holy Spirit, 
who succeeded to the government of the people of God, 
superseding the law." 

From Consideration xxxvii. — "They who, by accepting 



298 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

the gospel, and who, by the covenant of justification estab- 
lished by Jesus Christ our Lord, are made sons of God, 
and sustaining intimate relations with God, know God and 
acquire a fresh opinion of God, and form new conceptions 
of God, not indeed by report, but by knowledge and expe- 
rience, — when these persons have recourse to the Holy 
Scriptures with their fresh opinion and their new concep- 
tions, they find that written in them which they know and 
experience." 

From Consideration xlvi. — "All they who, guided only 
by the light of nature, and by human wisdom, presume to 
understand things that belong to the Spirit of God, and 
to tread the Christian path, that is to say, to live in a Chris- 
tian-like manner, I compare to a man who walks at night 
by a way that is full of perils and obstacles, simply with 
the light of his eyes. And it appears to me, that just as 
to this man a tree will at one time appear to be a foot-pad, 
and he will fly from it ; a rock, to be an armed man, and 
he will be dismayed; and at other moments, water will 
appear to him to be stone, and he will be plunged in it ; 
and a shadow will appear to be a tree, and trying to lean 
against it he will fall flat on the ground ; exactly in a sim- 
ilar manner, the man who, guided by the light of nature, 
treads the road to God, at times is frightened , by things 
that ought never to have terrified him at all, and at other 
times he feels secure, and reposes trust in things in which 
he ought never to have felt secure, nor reposed trust at all, 
and thus groping his way, he walks like one bewildered, 
and knows not whither he is going. He who walks by 
the light of Holy Writ, and after the example of the saints, 
but without the Spirit, I compare to a man who walks at 
night, carrying a candle in his hand, so that he does not go 
wholly in the dark ; but neither does he go without fear, 
nor does he in his mind feel safe, nor is he sure that he shall 
not fall into many difficulties. 



JUAN VALDES. 299 

" Whence I understand, that just as to the traveller of 
whom I have spoken as walking by night simply by the 
light of his eyes, the best, and safest counsel is, that he 
suspend his journey as loHg as the night lasts, till the sun 
be risen to show him the way and. the objects upon it, aiid 
he be enabled to travel, aided by the light of his eyes ; so 
to him that travels on the road to God, siaiply by the light 
of nature, by the testimony of Scripture, and by the ex- 
ample of the lives of the saints, the best, the soundest ad- 
vice that can be given to him is, that he stop on the way, 
during the night of his ov^^n blindness, until God send him 
His Spirit, — that he may know his way, and see all that is 
in it." 

From Consideration xlviii. — ''From Romans, viii. 26, 
we collect that St. Paul considered prayer to be one 
amongst the things with which, in our weakness and in- 
firmities, we are favored and helped by the Spirit of God ; 
and thus he says, that forasmuch as we know not how to 
pray as we ought, the Spirit of God prays for us. Hence 
I understand that the Holy Spirit then prays for us, when 
he impels us and moves us to pray, because at such a time 
he prays in us himself And I understand, that he who 
prays with the Spirit of God, asks that which is the will of 
God, and thus obtains what he desires; and he who prays 
with his own spirit, asks that which is his own will ; and 
hence the reason why man knows neither for what, nor 

how, he ought to pray." "When he who prays 

with the human spirit, utters these words of the Lord's 
prayer, — 'Thy will be done,' — although the words were 
dictated by the Spirit of God, he does not pray with the 
Spirit of God, because he does not pray being inspired, but 
instructed [taught naturally]. And St. Paul does not say 
that the Holy Spirit should teach us to pray, but that He 
prays for us and in us." 



300 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

''Thej who work with human wisdom find satisfaction 
in their works, but mixed with arrogance and presump- 
tion ; and they wiio work with the Holy Spirit, find also 
satisfaction in their works, but of a very different kind, 
and mixed with humility and mortification. So that a 
person, by examining his mind after the w^ork is completed, 
shall be able by this consideration to understand whether 
human wisdom, or the Spirit of God, has wrought in him." 

From Consideration 1. — '*I come to the conclusion, that 
the proper duty of the Christian in the present life is, to be 
intent upon the reinstatement of his soul, and the recov- 
ery of the image and likeness of Grod And I un- 
derstand that Christian perfection consists in this exercise. 
I mean to say, that a Christian is more or less perfect in 
this life, just as, being more or less engaged in this exer- 
cise [the progressive restoration of his soul], he gains 
more or less of that part of the image and likeness of God 
in which [man] was created, and which is attainable in 
this life. And this I understand to be the reason why 
Jesus Christ our Lord concludes his exhortation upon 
Christian perfection, bj^ saying, 'Be ye perfect, as your 
Father in heaven is perfect' (Matt, v.)." 

From Consideration liv. — "I hold it to be a thing most 
true and most certain for the understanding of Holy Scrip- 
.ture, that the best, the surest, the highest interpreters that 
man can find are these two — Prayer and Consideration. 
I understand that Prayer discovers the way, opens it, and 
makes it plain; and that Consideration puts the man into 
it, and makes him walk by it. Furthermore, I understand 
it to be indispensable that these two interpreters, or books, 
be assisted by God, himself inspiring the man who prays, 
to pray. Because I understand, that he who prays with- 
out being inspired to pray, does so at the suggestion of his 
own fancy, of his own affection, and of his own will; and 



JUAN VALDES. 301 

that, not knowing how to pray as he ought, he is not heard 
in his prayer : and he who prays, being inspired to pray, 
prays to the glory of God, and prays by the will of God; 
and knowing how to pray as he ought, his prayer is heard, 
and what he-seeks is granted. As to Consideration, I hold 
it to be indispensable on the part of the man who would 
consider of spiritual things, that it be assisted with his 
own experience of them. I mean, that he who considers, 
should have inwardly experienced those things of which 
Holy Scripture speaks, in such a manner, that by what he 
jBnds and knows in himself, he comes to understand what 
is written in the Holy Scriptures. And they who consider 
without this experience, walk in the dark and grope their 

way While those persons who are aided in Prayer 

by the Holy Spirit, and in Consideration by their individ- 
ual experience, frequently attain certainty, na}^, ordinarily 
do so; they know what they ascertain, and also relish it." 

From Consideration Ivii. — "Day by day I acquire a 
stronger conviction, that the Christian should be concerned 
about experience, and not about theoretical knowledge. I 
mean to say, that his business is not learned by speculation, 
but by experience. In the first place, I understand that it 
is peculiarly the Christian's duty to exercise himself in mor- 
tification. By persevering in it, he feels that its usefulness 
consists in this: that by mortifying his affections and appe- 
tites, man gradually attains to the apprehension of that 
divine Christian perfection, of which he is himself appre- 
hended by union with Christ, a union brought about by 
faith." . . . . 

" The Christian has not to busy himself in speculative 
knowledge, but in experience. If it were a science, it would 
have the effect that other sorts of science [tend to] produce, 
which is to inflate and to puff up those who acquire them. 
But because it is experience, it produces the effect .... 

14 



302 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

to humble and cast down to tlie earth everything that is 
associated with human wisdom, and to elevate and exalt to 
heaven all that is associated with the Spirit." 

From Consideration Ixxv. — "Just as all men who have 
the clear vision of their outward eyes, know the external 
forms of things through the aid of the sun, in which God 
has placed his outward light, so all men who have the clear 
vision of their inward eyes, know all inward things through 
the aid of Christ, in whom, as says St. Panl (Col. ii.), ' God 
has placed all the treasures of his divinity' [in the English 
version, 'of wisdom and knowledge'] I likewise un- 
derstand the manner in which Christ is the Head of the 
church. I mean to say, that I understand that just as vital 
energy descends from my head to all mj^ members, they 
being each sustained and governed by it, so vital energy 
descends from Christ to all those who belong to the church, 
they being each sustained and governed by the divine gifts 
which are communicated to them by Christ. And I under- 
stand that those persons belong to the church, who, being 
called of God and brought to the knowledge of Christ, are 
capable of effectively receiving the divine treasures which 
are showered down most abundantly upon all men by the 
only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord." 

From Consideration Ixxxv. — ''I understand that the 
Christian knows God by the communication of the Holy 
Spirit; because I understand that the Holy Spirit is given 
to them who believe in Christ ; and I understand by St. 
Paul (I. Cor. ii. 10), 'that the Spirit searcheth all the deep 
things of God.' I understand likewise that we know God 
himself, through Christ, inasmuch as through Christ the 
Holy Spirit is given to us, it being Christ himself who gives 
us Him by the will and command of God, just as, by the 
same will and ordinance, light is given unto us through the 
sun. And certain it is that the Holy Spirit is efficacious 



JUAN VALDES. 303 

in me who am a Christian, to make me know the omnipo- 
tence that is in God, by the mighty power which he mani- 
fests in me, in mortifying me, and in quickening me ; to 
make me know the wisdom that is in God, by the wisdom 
which I acquire by the Holy Spirit ; to make me know the 
justice that is in God, for that he justifies me in Christ ; to 
make me know the truth that is in God, inasmuch as he 
fulfils to me what he has promised ; and to make me know 
the goodness and mercy of God, forasmuch as he bears 
with my infirmities and sins. And thus I am brought to 
recognize all these things in God, not indeed by relation of 
Scripture, but by that which the Holy Spirit works within 
me, who communicates himself unto me through Christ. 

''I understand that a Christian knows God by regenera- 
tion and Christian renovation ; because I understand that 
he who has been regenerated, and renewed by the Holy 
Spirit, who is communicated to him by Christ, gradually 
rids himself of and renounces the image of Adam, which is 
peculiar to us by human generation, through which we 
'are by nature children of wrath,' enemies of God, wicked, 
rebellious, and infidel ; and gradually assumes and recovers 
the image of God, which is peculiar to us by Christian 
regeneration ; through which we as it were naturally be- 
come childr-en of grace, the adopted sons of God — friends 
of God, pious, obedient, and faithful." 

We have thus spread before the reader, from this re- 
markable book of Yaldes, sufficient to show the admirable 
spirit which he brought to the contemplation of divine 
truth, and the deep views which he had of the operative 
nature of true religion — altogether at variance with the 
outward and ceremonious system which prevailed around 
him. He was accustomed to say that a Christian's proper 
study should be in his own book, and that this book was 
his own mind; and he found in his own experience that no 



304 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

occupation need interrupt this reading. In a letter written 
at a late period of his life, he alludes to this self-examina- 
tion in an instructive and beautiful manner, saying among 
other things that bespeak his earnestness in the search, 
and his conviction of its importance in the Christian life, 
that sometimes — ''I consider whether the Christian's faith 
has its efficacy within me, causing me to change my natu- 
ral disposition; and whether the Christian life has made 
me change my former state and manners ; because such 
alteration is Christian renovation and regeneration. I enter 
at other times into a very strict account with myself, ex- 
amining how" far I love God and Christ ; whether I love 
Him more than myself; and how far I love my neighbors, 
and whether I love them as well as I love myself. If, then, 
I perceive that I am going forward, purely directed to the 
glory of Grod and of Christ, and to the spiritual and eternal 
good of my neighbors, I know that I go forward in love. 
This is the way I study in my own hook. The fruit I gain 
from such perusal is, that I arrive at a much better knowl- 
edge of what I am, and of what I am worth in myself, and 
what through God and through Christ ; and so I arrive at 
a more intimate knowledge of the benefit to he received 
from Christ. And this is the consequence, that the more 
constantly I read in this my book, so much the more the 
life I have by the grace of God and of Christ grows within 
me, and that which I have as a son of Adam becomes less." 
In this manner, with constant self-scrutiny, and a cher- 
ished and humble reliance on the mercy of God through 
Jesus Christ — on the inward experience of it, and not on 
any pompous ceremonial profession of it — he drew toward 
the close of life, serene and peaceful, and in the midst of 
friends who loved him and whom he loved. Though en- 
mity existed in the minds of the priesthood and hierarchy, 
yet that enmity had not ripened into open persecution, 



JUAN VALDES. 305 

partly from his early death, and partly from the fact that 
his writings, though spread extensively among his friends 
by manuscript copies, were not printed or openly published 
until some years after his decease. 

He died at Naples in the year 1540, about middle age. 
He was never married, and maintained throughout his life 
a character of unblemished integrity. Wiffen says of him, 
— " To Yaldes the internal word of inspiration was not 
mystical. He knew that the Word of God within, earn- 
estly sought for, patiently believed in, and obediently com- 
plied with, was also the highest reason ; and that its com- 
mands were practicable just in proportion to the degree of 

the reliance of faith reposed in them Neither did 

Yaldes inculcate an ascetic life. He mixed with men and 
with their afifairs, striving alike by his practice and instruc- 
tion to direct them to a foretaste of that true felicity in this 
life which they might hope to enjoy perpetually hereafter; 
and in this also he was practical Yaldes, as a re- 
former, entered less than almost any thoughtful man of his 
time into the battle of hierarchies. He was less a destroyer 
of error and evil, than a builder-up of truth and goodness. 
He left not, himself, the profession of the church of Rome, 
nor incited others so to do He looked beyond her cere- 
monies and'pompous ritual — aware, to use his own words, 
how outward ceremonies breed inward vices, and how the 
mind which is inclined to superstition is naturally inclined 
to persecution He made not theology, that is, a doc- 
trinal science of religion, his study; and therefore had not, 
in his more enlightened years, to unlearn the sophistical 

formulas of the schools In person, Yaldes was spare 

in body, of fair and pleasing countenance, of sweet and cour- 
teous manners, of soft and winning speech, clear and log- 
ical in discourse, active, and diligently studious He 

died greatly beloved and honored by his numerous friends." 



306 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

His views were of the very essence of the Reformation. 
How then was it that he never fraternized with Luther?* 
The fact that he did not, seems to prove that he was in- 
deed not brought into his knowledge of divine truth "by 
man, neither was he taught it but by the revelation of the 
Spirit of God." 



CHAPTER XY. 



ANNE ASKEW. 



Anne Askew was the second daughter of Sir William 
Askew, of Kelsey, in Lincolnshire, England, one of the 
knights who attended Henry YIII. on his pageantry of 
the "Field of the Cloth of Gold." She was born about 
the year 1522. ■!" While still quite youthful, she was mar- 
ried, against her own wishes, and at the urgent instigation 
of her father, to a young man of great wealth, but of no 
congeniality of character or disposition. The result, as 
might have been anticipated, was great unhappiness. In 
her distress her mind was mercifully visited by the love 
of God, and enabled to turn to Him for support. She 
had, while younger, been encouraged by her tutor in read- 
ing the Holy Scriptures (probably Wycliffe's version into 

- McCrie (Reformation in Spain, p. 142) appears to think it probable that 
Juan Yalcles had read the works of Luther and Tauier; but the remark- 
able originality both of the modes and trains of thought in the writings 
of Yald6s seems to indicate that his religious views were the product of 
his own meditations, rather than borrowed from those of other men. The 
volume he most particularly delighted in, was evidently the Holy Scrip- 
tures. 

f See M. Webb's ''Fells of Swarthmoor Hall," whence we also learn 
that she was great-grandmother to Margai^et Askew, wife of Judge Fell 
of Swarthmoor, afterward Margaret Fox. 



ANNE ASKEW. 30t 

English), and now she derived great comfort from a fre- 
quent recourse to them. But this practice, together with 
the still more offensive one to the priests, of absenting her- 
self from auricular confession, aroused the displeasure of 
her husband and his family; and as she remained firm to 
what she believed to be her duty, and felt the consolation 
of faithfulness therein, her husband, after the birth of their 
second child, threatened to dismiss her from his house. 
She endeavored to show him that she could not change 
her course with a clear conscience. She had been enabled 
to see that priestly confession was contrary to the Scrip- 
tures, as well as other superstitions of the Romish system, 
and she could not give up her convictions, or go so directly 
contrary to them as he, at the suggestion of the priests, 
required of her. Whereupon, says Bishop Bale, "he drove 
her from his house." We may imagine the lacerated feel- 
ings with which the young repudiated wife returned to the 
home of her childhood, vdth her two little children. Yet she 
had the support of inward consolation from her Lord and 
Master, and that, to her, was of more value than all else. 

On being turned out by her husband, she considered that 
he had broken his marriage covenant, and accordingly re- 
nounced his name, which was Kyme, and resumed for her- 
self and her children the name of Askew. Her husband's 
family continuing to persecute her, after a time she removed 
to London, where she had relations and friends, hoping 
thus to escape their animosity, and to live in peace with 
her children. But the distance did not prevent them from 
sending information against her to the bishop and the 
chief magistrate of that city, to the effect that she was a 
dangerous heretic. Hearing that her enemies had reported 
that she had left Lincolnshire for fear of her heresies being 
made public, she returned for a short time ; and, with a 
view to confront the priests who had raised the report, and 



308 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

expecting that they would then specify what they had 
agoinst her to justify a charge of heresy, she entered 
the cathedral of Lincoln, and for several days placed her- 
self conspicuously in front of a large Bible, fixed there by 
the king's order, near which great numbers of the priests 
continually passed. But they looked upon her, and passed 
by without saying anything of importance to her. "She 
had not the slightest fear," it is said, " of what they could 
say or do; for she felt her cause was good, and that the 
Lord was on her side." 

After this she returned to London, and during the next 
spring was summoned before a body of Inquisitors (the 
''quest," as she calls them), who endeavored to ensnare 
her by their questions. She sa^^-s, " Christopher Dare asked 
me if I did not believe that the Sacrament hanging over 
the altar was the very body of Christ really. Then I de- 
manded of him, wherefore was St. Stephen stoned to death ? 
And he said, he could not tell. Then I answered, that no 
more would I assoil his vain question. 

" Secondly, he said, that there was a woman who did 
testify that I read how God was not in temples made with 
hands. Then I showed him chapters vii. and xviii. of the 
Acts of the Apostles, what Stephen and Paul had said 
therein. 

"Thirdly, he asked, wherefore I said I had rather read 
five lines in the Bible, than to hear five masses in the 
temple. 1 confessed that I had said no less, because the 
one did greatly edify me, and the other nothing at all. He 
asked me what I said concerning confession. I answered 
him my meaning, which was, as St. James saith, that every 
man ought to acknowledge his faults to another, and one 
to pray for the other. 

" He asked me what I said to the king's book [a book 
published by King Henry YIII., for which he obtained 



ANNE ASKEW. 309 

from the pope the title of "Defender of the Faith"] ; and I 
answered that I could say nothing to it, because I never 
saw it. He asked me, if I had the Spirit of God in me ? 
I answered, if I had not, I was but a reprobate or cast- 
away. 

. " Then he said, he had sent for a priest to examine me, 
who was then at hand. The priest asked me what I said 
to the Sacrament of the altar, and required much to know 
my meaning thereof. But I desired him to hold me ex- 
cused concerning that matter. None other answer would 
I make him, because I perceived him to be a papist. 

" Lastly, he asked me, if I did not think private masses 
did help the souls departed ? I said, it was great idolatry 
to rely more in them than in the death Christ died for us. 

*' Then they had me to my Lord Mayor, and he examined 
me as they had before, and I answered him directly in all 
things as I answered the quest. Besides this, my Lord 
Mayor laid one thing to my charge which was never spoken 
of [by] me, but by them ; and that was, whether a mouse, 
eating the host, received God, or no ? This question did 
T never ask, but indeed they asked it of me ; whereunto I 
made them no answer, but smiled." 

The Chancellor of the Bishop of London then found fault 
with her for ''uttering the Scriptures," saying that the 
apostle Paul had forbidden women "to talk of the word of 
God." But she showed him that the prohibition of the 
apostle did not apply to anything that she had done. 

The Lord Mayor then committed her to the prison called 
tlie Compter, refusing her request to be permitted to put 
in surety for her appearance, and not admitting any of her 
friends to speak to her during the eleven days that she re- 
mained there. Two priests however came to the prison, 
and endeavored to entangle her by questions respecting 

14* 



310 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

transubstantiation and confession; but she firmly main- 
tained her ground from Holy Scripture. Bishop Bonner 
himself came afterward, to try what he could accomplish 
toward the ensnaring of this innocent woman ; but she was 
on her guard, and to all his doctrinal questions she merely 
replied that she believed "as the Scripture doth teach," 
or ''as Christ and his apostles did leave them." Disap- 
pointed in his repeated attempts to induce her to answer 
him in a way that he could take hold of to her disadvan- 
tage, he asked her, why she had so few words ? To which 
she replied, that God had given her the gift of knowledge, 
but not of utterance, and that Solomon had said that a 
woman of few words is the gift of God. Some other con- 
versation took place, near the conclusion of which she ap- 
pealed to the bishop for proof of any blame that might be 
attached to her. He then went away, and writing a state- 
ment of her avowal of her belief in transubstantiation, and 
in the holiness and regenerating efficacy of " all the Sacra- 
ments of the Catholic church," he brought it to her for her 
consent to it. She was willing to say that " she believed 
so much thereof as the Holy Scripture doth agree unto," 
and requested him to add that to the writing. But desiring 
her not to teach him what to write, he took the paper to 
tlie assembly in his great chamber, who demanded her sig- 
nature to it. Bonner handing the paper to her for that 
purpose, she wrote thus: "I, Anne Askew, do believe 
all manner of things contained in the faith of the Catholic 
church. " 

The bishop, seeing that she did not mean by that ex- 
pression, the Roman church, "flung into his chamber," she 
says, "in a great fury." But one of her cousins afterward 
interceding for her release on bail, in a few days she was 
allowed to go home. 

With regard to the contrivances set on foot for her sub- 



ANNE ASKEW. 311 

sequent persecution, we may take the following brief state- 
ment from the work before referred to. 

"After this, a year passed, during which Gardiner, Bishop 
of Winchester, Bonner, Bishop of London, and others of 
their stamp, were watching with much apprehension the 
decided interest taken by Queen Catherine Parr in the 
Reformation. The grandeur of the hierarchy, the personal 
consequence and the revenues of the clergy, seemed in 
greater danger than ever. They determined that a stop 
should be put to the spirit of religious inquiry, manifesting 
itself among the people, and to the discussions about church- 
government and principles. They sorely repented that 
they had sanctioned the introduction of the English Bible 
into the cathedrals ; and they thought that if they could 
only get the Queen out of the way, they might induce the 
King to have the Bibles withdrawn, and succeed in turning 
the tide of royal favor in the direction they would point out. 
They dreaded so much her clear head, her prudence, and 
her influence over her capricious husband, that nothing 
short of her destruction would satisfy them. But they 
must needs begin cautiously, and cunningly hide the end 
in view. The bishops again turned their attention to Anne 
Askew. They knew she was much favored by the queen 
and her friends. Might they not get something out of her 
that would implicate some about the court, perhaps even 
Queen Catherine herself? They determined to try; and 
Lord Chancellor Wriothesley, who was as anxious to get 
rid of the queen as the bishops were, went into the plot 
with his characteristic artful cruelty. 

"Anne Askew,, who. Fuller says, was distinguished for 
wit, beauty, learning, and religion, was again seized and 
imprisoned. Nevertheless her heart did not sink, for it was 
anchored on the Rock of ages. Bishop Bale has preserved 
a hymn which she composed during her imprisonment in 



312 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

Newgate. She seems to have well understood the charac- 
ters of the two bishops and of the lord chancellor, who 
were banded together against her ; and evidently expected 
neither truth nor justice from them." 

At her examination before the King's Council, she was 
interrogated respecting her domestic difficulties with her 
husband, which she very properly declined to expose. 
Then they asked her concerning the Sacrament; to which 
she replied briefly according to her belief. The Bishop, of 
Winchester not being satisfied with her answer, and de- 
siring a more direct one, she said: "If I show the open 
truth, ye will not accept It." On this he told her she was 
a parrot; to which she said to him, that "she was ready 
to suffer all things at his hands — not only his rebukes, but 
all that should follow besides." 

The Council rebuked her several times during the five 
hours that she was detained by them, because she did not 
express herself as they wished. 

" The next day," she relates, "I was brought again be- 
fore the Council. Then would they needs know of me 
what I said of the Sacrament. I answered, that I had 
already said what I could say. Then came my Lord 
Lisle, Lord Essex, and the Bishop of Winchester, requir- 
ing me earnestly to confess the Sacrament to be flesh, 
blood, and bone. I said to Lord Parre and Lord Lisle, 
that it was a great shame for them to counsel contrary to 
their knowledge. The bishop (Gardiner) said he would 
speak with me familiarly. I said, so did Judas when he 
betrayed Christ. Then desired the bishop to speak with 
me alone. But I refused. He asked me, why ? I said, 
that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every matter 
should stand, after Christ's and Paul's doctrine. Then the 
Lord Chancellor began again to examine me of the Sacra- 
ment. I asked him, how long he would halt on both sides ? 



ANNE ASKEW. 313 

He needs would know where I fouad that. I said, in the 
Scriptures. Then the bishop said, I should be burned. I 
answered, that I had searched all the Scriptures, yet could 
I never find that either Christ or his apostles put any crea- 
ture to death. 

"Then came Master Paget to me, with many glorious 
words, and desired me to speak my mind to him. I might, 
he said, deny it again, if need were. I said, I would not 
deny the truth. He asked me, how I could avoid the very 
words of Christ — ' Take, eat, this is my body which shall 
be broken for you ?' I answered, that Christ's meaning 
was there, as in these other places of Scripture, viz., *I am 
the door' — 'behold the Lamb of Grod' — the rock — the 
stone — only figured by these things. Ye may not here, 
said I, take Christ for the material thing that he is signi- 
fied by; for these would make him in that way a very 
door, a vine, a lamb, a stone, €lean contrary to the Holy 
Ghost's meaning. All these do but signify Christ — like as 
the bread doth signify his body in that place. And though 
he did say there, 'Take, eat this in remembrance of me,' 
yet he did not bid them hang up the bread in a box, and 
make it a god, to bow to it. 

"Then they made me a bill of the Sacrament, willing 
me to set my hand thereunto ; but I would not. On Sun- 
day I was sore sick, thinking no less than to die — there- 
fore I desired to speak with Master Latimer, but it would 
not be. I was sent to Newgate in my extremity of sick- 
ness; for in all my life afore, I was never in such pain." 

After this she w^as examined at the Guildhall. She 
says : " They said to me there that I was a heretic, and 
condemned by the law, if I would stand in my opinion. 
I answered, that I was no heretic, neither yet deserved I 
death by the law of God. But as concerning the faith 
which I uttered and wrote to the Council, I would not, I 



314 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

said, deny it, because I knew it true. Then would they 
needs know if I would deny the Sacrament to be Christ's 
body and blood. I said, yea ; for the same Son of God 
that was born of the Virgin Mary is now glorious in 
heaven, and will come again from thence at the latter day 
as he went up. And as for that ye call your god, it is a 
piece of bread. For proof thereof, mark it when you list, 
let it but lie in the box three months, and it will be mouldy, 
and so turn to nothing that is good. Whereupon I am per- 
suaded that it cannot be God. 

''After that, they willed me to have a priest; and then 
I smiled. Then they asked me if it were not good. I 
said, I would confess my faults unto God ; for I was sure 
that he would hear me with favor. And so we were con- 
demned without a quest." 

Three men, similarly accused, were condemned along 
with her ; one of whom was her former tutor, John Lacels, 
another had been a Romish priest, and the third was a 
poor artisan. There was no jury to try the case, nor had 
she any counsel to plead her cause; but was summarily 
condemned to be burned at the stake. Yet how calmly 
does she relate the circumstances ! 

After her condemnation, she WTote to the king, as fol- 
lows : 

"My faith, briefly written to the King's Grace. — I, Anne 
Askew, of good memory, although God hath given me the 
bread of adversity and the water of trouble, yet not so 
much as my sins have deserved, desire this to be known to 
your Grace, that forasmuch as I am by the law condemned 
for an evil-doer, here I take heaven and earth to record, 
that I shall die in my innocency ; and according to that I 
have said first, and will say last, I utterly abhor and detest 
all heresies. As concerning the Supper of the Lord, I be- 
hove so much as Christ hath said therein, which he con- 



ANNE ASKEW. 315 

firmed with his most blessed blood. I believe also so 
much as He willed me to follow, and believe so much as 
the Catholic church of Him doth teach ; for I will not for- 
sake the commandment of his holy lips. But look, what 
God hath charged me with his mouth, that have I shut up 
in my heart. And thus briefly I end, for lack of learning. 

"Anne Askew." 

The account before referred to relates, that when Gardiner 
and the Lord Chancellor failed to frighten their victim into 
recantation by the threat of the stake, or, by cross-ques- 
tioning, to lead her unconsciously to implicate others, they 
determined on trying the rack. They thought that pro- 
longed agony might extort revelations which might bear on 
the queen's household, or on the queen herself. Her own 
account of the proceedings shows that her previous means 
of maintenance had been cut off after her first imprison- 
ment. It is as follows : 

''The effect of my examination and handling since my 
departure from Newgate :— .- 

*' On Tuesday I was sent from Newgate to the sign of 
the Crown, where Master Rich and the Bishop of London, 
with all their power and flattering words, went about to 
persuade me from God. But I did not esteem their glosing 
pretences. Then came there to me Nicholas Shaxton, and 
counselled me to recant, as he had done. I told him that 
it had been good for him never to have been born, with 
many other like words. Then Master Rich sent me to the 
Tower, where I remained till three o'clock. Rich and one 
of the Council charged me, upon my obedience, to show 
them if 1 knew any man or woman of my sect. My answer 
was that I knew none. Then they asked me of my Lady 
Suffolk, my Lady of Hertford, my Lady Denny, and my 
Lady Fitzwilliam; to which I answered, if I should pro- 
nounce anything against them, that I were not able to 



316 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

prove it. Then said they to me, that the king was in- 
formed that I could name, if I would, a great number of 
my sect. I answered, that the king was as well deceived 
in that behalf, as dissembled with in other matters. 

"They commanded me to show how I was maintained 
in the Compter, and who willed me to stick to my opinions. 
I said, there was no creature that therein did strengthen 
me; and as for the help I had in the Compter, it was by 
means of my maid. For as she went abroad in the streets, 
she made moan to the 'prentices, and they, by her, did 
send me money; but who they were I never knew. 

" Then they said that there were divers gentlewomen 
that gave me money; but I knew not their names. And 
they said there were divers ladies that sent me money. I 
answered, that there was a man in a blue coat, who de- 
livered me ten shillings, and said that my Lady Hertford 
sent it to me ; and another in a violet coat gave me eight 
shillings, and said my Lady Denny sent it me ; whether 
it were true or no, I cannot tell, for I am not sure who 
sent it me but as the maid did say. They said there were 
of the Council, that did maintain me ; and I said. No. 

" Then they put me on the rack, because I confessed no 
ladies or gentlewomen to be of my opinion ; and there- 
upon they kept me a long while ; and because I lay still, 
and did not cry, my Lord Chancellor and Master Rich 
took pains to rack me with their own hands, till I was nigh 
dead. The lieutenant caused me to be loosed from the 
rack. Incontinently I swooned, but they recovered me 
again. 

"After that, I sat two long hours, reasoning with my 
Lord Chancellor, upon the bare floor ; where he, with many 
flattering words, persuaded me to leave my opinions. But 
the Lord my God (I thank his everlasting goodness) gave 
me grace to persevere, and will do, I hope, to the very end. 



ANNE ASKEW. 317 

Then was I brought to a house, and laid in a bed, with as 
weaiy and painful bones as ever had patient Job ; I thank 
my Lord God therefor. Then mj Lord Chancellor sent 
me word, if I would leave my opinions, I should want no- 
thing; but if I would not, I should forthwith again to 
Newgate, and so be burned. I sent him word, that I would 
rather die than break my faith. 

" Thus, Lord, open the eyes of their blind hearts, that 
the truth may take place. 

" Farewell, dear friend ; and pray, pray, pray." 
Foxe's account* adds a few more particulars respecting 
this cruel transaction. "First," he says, *'she was let 
down into a dungeon, where Sir Anthony Knevet, the 
lieutenant, commanded the jailer to pinch her with the 
rack. Which being done as much as he thought sufficient, 
he went about to take her down. But the chancellor, not 
contented that she was loosed so soon, confessing nothing, 
commanded the lieutenant to strain her again ; which be- 
cause he denied to do, tendering the weakness of the 
woman, he was threatened therefore grievously of the said 
Wriothesley, saying that he would signify his disobedience 
to the king. And so consequently upon the same, he and 
Master Rich, throwing off their gowns, would need play 
the tormentors themselves. Quietly and patiently, praying 
unto the Lord, she abode their tyranny, till her bones and 
joints were almost plucked asunder, in such sort as she 
was carried away in a chair." 

Sir A. Knevet, the lieutenant, expecting to be promptly 
complained of for his compassionate leniency to his poor 
prisoner, sped with all haste in a boat to the court, and 
explained the circumstances to the king, before the others 
had time to get there by^horse ; whereupon the king " seemed 

* Acts and Monuments of the Martyrs, as quoted in Webb's "Fells of 
Swarthmoor." 



318 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

not very well to like their so extreme handling of the 
woman," and granted the lieutenant his pardon, though he 
did nothing toward the liberation of the innocent sufferer. 

Her enemies, now fearing the effects of the public sym- 
pathy and indignation, printed and spread the paper which 
they had previously prepared for her to sign, falsely saying 
that she had signed it, and that their now placing her oh 
the rack was onl}^ with a view to induce her to a similar 
recantation, in order to save her life. Her old tutor and 
fellow-prisoner, John Lacels, hearing of it, wrote to her, 
expressing solicitude for her faithfulness, to which she 
made the following noble reply: 

" Oh, friend most dearly beloved in God, I marvel not a 
little what should move you to judge in me so slender a 
faith as to fear death, which is the end of all misery. In 
the Lord I desire you not to believe of me such wicked- 
ness ; for I doubt it not, God will perform his work in me 
like as he hath begun. I understand the Council is not a 
little displeased that it should be reported abroad that I 
was racked in the tower. They say now, that what they 
did there was but to fear me ; whereby I perceive they are 
ashamed of their uncomely doings, and fear much least the 
king's majesty should have information thereof Wherefore 
they would no man to noise it. Well, their cruelty, God 
forgive them ! 

"Your heart in Christ Jesus. Farewell, and pray." 

She also wrote a paper for the public, to contradict the 
injurious falsehoods spread abroad, of her recantation ; in 
which she explains the facts in regard to her refusal to sign 
the declaration presented to her, and states what she did 
eventually write upon the paper; and she declares solemnly 
that she "never meant a thing less, than to recant." 

Before her execution she wrote a confession of her faith, 
and likewise a prayer; which latter is as follows: "O 



ANNE ASKEW. 319 

Lord ! I have more enemies now than there be hairs in my 
head ! Yet, Lord, let them never overcome me with vain 
words, but fight them, Lord, in my stead, for on thee cast 
I my care. With all the spite they can imagine, they 
fall upon me, who am thy poor creature. Yet, sweet Lord, 
let me not set by them that are against me ; for in thee is 
my delight. And, Lord, I heartily desire of thee that thou 
wilt, of thy most merciful goodness, forgive them that vio- 
lence which they do, and have done, unto me. Open also 
thou their blind hearts, that they may hereafter do that 
thing in thy sight which is only acceptable before thee, and 
to set forth thy verity aright, without all vain fantasies of 
sinful men. So be it, Lord, so be it !" 

One who saw her about this time declared: "I must 
needs confess of Mrs. Askew, now departed to the Lord, 
that on the day afore her execution, and the same day also, 
she had on an angel's countenance, and a smiling face ; 
though, when the hour of darkness came, she was so 
racked that she could not stand, but was holden up be- 
tween two Serjeants." 

Her execution, along with that of three men who were 
under the same condemnation, was appointed to take place 
in the evening, that the scene might be all the more terrific 
from approaching darkness. She was now in the twenty- 
fifth year of her age. We may imagine the yearnings with 
which her heart turned toward her helpless children ; but 
she was sustained by that faith that "overcometh the 
world." The last scene is thus described by Foxe : '' The 
day of her execution she was brought into Smithfield in a 
chair, because she could not go on her feet. When she was 
brought to the stake, she was tied by the middle with a 
chain that held up her body. When all things were thus 
prepared, Dr. Shaxton, who was appointed to preach, be- 
gan his sermon. Anne, hearing, answered unto him where 



320 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

lie said well, confirming the same. Where he said amiss, 
'There !' said she, ' he speaketh contrary to the Book.' 

" The sermon being finished, the martyrs standing there, 
tied at three several stakes, ready for their martyrdom, 
began their prayers. The multitude of the people was ex- 
ceeding — the place where they stood being railed about, to 
keep out the press. Upon the bench, under St. Bartholo- 
mew's church, sat Wriothesley, Chancellor of England, the 
old Duke of Norfolk, the old Earl of Bedford, the Lord 
Mayor, with divers others. Before the fire should be set 
unto them, one of the bench, hearing that they had gun- 
powder about them, and being alarmed lest the faggots, by 
strength of the powder, would come flying about their ears, 
began to be afraid. But the Earl of Bedford declared unto 
him how the gunpowder was not laid under the faggots, 
but only about their bodies, to rid them quickly of their 
pain ; so diminished that fear. Then Wriothesley, the Lord 
Chancellor, sent to Anne Askew letters, offering her the 
king's pardon if she would recant. Refusing to look upon 
them, she made this answer : ' I came not hither to deny 
my Lord and Master I' Then were the letters likewise 
offered unto the others, who in like manner, following the 
constancy of the woman, denied not only to receive them, 
but also to look upon them. Whereupon the Lord Mayor, 
commanding fire to be put unto them, cried with a loud 
voice ; ' Fiat justitia !' 

" And thus died the good Anne Askew, with these blessed 
martyrs ; being compassed in with flames of fire, she slept 
in the Lord, leaving behind a singular example of Chris- 
tian constancy for all men to follow." 



MICHAEL DE MOLINOS. 321 



CHAPTER XYI. 

MICHAEL DE MOLINOS. 

Miguel de Molinos was descended from a wealthy and 
honorable family in Spain, and was born in the diocese of 
Saragossa in the year 162T. After studying at Pampeluna 
and Coimbra, he early entered into priest's orders, and re- 
ceived the degree of Doctor in Theology, though he would 
not accept of any ecclesiastical preferment or benefice, from 
which to derive worldly advantage. His talents were su- 
perior, and his conduct is said to have been uniformly con- 
sistent with his profession of piety ; though he did not ac- 
custom himself to the austerities so prevalent among the 
Romish priesthood. His mind appears to have been en- 
lightened from early life to perceive the great inferiority of 
ceremonial and outward religion, when compared with the 
possession of that which is interior and spiritual, and ef- 
fectual to the purification of man's nature, and his exalta- 
tion into a capacity for communion with his Maker and 
Redeemer. His reputation for piety extended considerably 
in his native country; but in 1663, or as some have it, in 
1669, he left Spain, to fix his habitation in Rome. 

Here, we are told in Foxe's "Acts and Monuments of the 
Martyrs," that he soon made acquaintance with distin- 
guished men of learning, who approved of his religious 
views, and assisted him in propagating them. His disci- 
ples rapidly increased in number, and from the peculiar 
contemplative character of their doctrine and practices, 
were soon distinguished by the name of Quietists. This 
appellation was afterward given to the adherents of the 



322 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

views of Jeanne M. Guion in France ; and the famous Arch- 
bishop Fenelon has been generally considered as among 
that comparatively enlightened portion of the Romish 
church. In the papal city Molinos was regarded as a man 
of extraordinary piety, and was highly esteemed by the 
pope. 

In the year 1675 he published in Spanish his principal 
and celebrated work, entitled *' Spiritual Guide," which, it 
is probable, was afterward published by him in Italian, as 
some writers date the publication of the work at Rome in 
1681.* This book was afterward translated into several 
different languages, and in less than six years passed 
through twenty editions. Mosheim says of the principles 
advocated in it, that according to the author, ''the whole 
of religion consists in the perfect calm and tranquiUity of a 
mind removed from all external and finite things, and cen- 
tred in God, and in such a pure love of the Supreme 
Being as is independent on all prospect of interest or re- 
ward." This book was at first received with almost uni- 
versal favor. Many even of the high dignitaries of the 
papal court were found among its admirers. Five cele- 
brated doctors had given their sanction in the first instance 
to its publication, among whom one was a Jesuit, and the 
other four were members of the Inquisition. Many of the 
priests, both in Rome and Naples, openly declared in favor 
of the views advocated in the book. Three of these were 
afterward raised to the cardinalate. One of them was Car- 
dinal Petrucci ; and one of Molinos's most zealous parti- 
sans, for a time, was the Cardinal D'Etrees, ambassador to 
Rome from the king of France. This man professed a 
great approval of his principles, and entered into intimate 
friendship with him. Soon after the publication of the 

* See Rose's Biog. Diet, compared with Am. Bncyclop. and Foxe's Book 
of Martyrs, — also Life of Molinos, translated bj Brooke. 



MICHAEL DE MOLINOS. • 323 

work, the Cardinal Odescalchi, one of Molinos's friends, 
was elected to the papal chair (Innocent XL), and gave 
him signal marks of his regard, lodging him in the palace 
of the Vatican, and openly favoring his sentiments. Many 
of those who thus favored him were doubtless convinced, 
for the time, of the truth and excellency of his sentiments, 
and of the spiritual efficacy of his religion ; though they 
may not have had depth enough in a living experience for 
themselves, to adhere to such convictions when the tide of 
public feeling turned, and persecution commenced. The 
great Christian doctrine of the possibility, through divine 
grace and perseverance, of attaining to freedom from sin 
even in this life, seems to have been appreciated and advo- 
cated by Molinos ; and he earnestly pressed upon all, the 
great benefit of silent waiting on the Most High, under tl>e 
name of inward recollection, wherein the soul is withdrawn 
from all outward things, and fixed upon God in watchful- 
ness unto prayer. But a few detached extracts from the 
" Spiritual Guide" itself, will give a more vivid insight into 
his main and distinguishing tenets, than any mere descrip- 
tion of the work. We find him iexpressing his sentiments, 
in different places, in the following beautiful and impres- 
sive manner : — 

"Oh, how many souls are called to the inward way! 
And spiritual directors, for want of understanding their 
case, instead of guiding and helping them forward, stop 
them in their course, and ruin them." 

" How much are many souls to be pitied, who, from the 
beginning of their life to the end, employ themselves in 
mere meditation; constraining themselves to reason, al- 
though God Almighty deprives them of reasoning, that he 
may promote them to another state, and carry them on to 
a more perfect kind of prayer. And for many years they 
continue imperfect, and are always beginning, without any 



324 .REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

progress, or having as yet made one step in the way of the 
Spirit; cumbering themselves about times and places, the 
choice of particular subjects, imaginations, and strained 
reasonings; seeking God without, when in the mean time 
they have him within themselves." 

''It is certain that our Lord Jesus Christ taught perfec- 
tion to all, and is willing that all should be perfect, particu- 
larly the ignorant and simple. He clearly manifested this 
truth, when for his apostles he chose illiterate men, saying 
to his eternal Father, 'I thank thee, Father, Lord of 
heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from 
the wise and prudent, and has£ revealed them unto babes.' 
And it is certain that tliese cannot acquire perfection by 
acute meditations and subtile reasonings, though they are 
^s capable as the most learned to attain to perfection by 
the purification of the affections and the will, wherein prin- 
cipally it consists." 

"It is not to be said that the soul is idle, when, as to 
acts, it is silent; because, though it work not actively, yet 
the Holy Ghost operates in it. Besides that, it is not with- 
out all activity ; for it operates spiritually, simply, and inti- 
mately. For, to be attentive to God, to draw near to Him, 
to follow his internal inspirations, receive his divine influ- 
ences, adore him in his own intimate centre, reverence him 
with the pious affections of the will, to cast away multi- 
tudes of. fantastical imaginations, and with composure to 
overcome so many temptations ; all these, I say, are true 
acts, though simple, wholly spiritual, and in a manner 
imperceptible, through the great tranquillity wherewith the 
soul exerts them." 

" The prayer of internal recollection may be well typified 
by that wrestling which the Holy Scriptures say the patri- 
arch Jacob had all night with God, until day broke, and 
He blessed him. Wherefore the soul is to persevere, and 



MICHAEL DE MOLINOS. 325 

wrestle with the difficulties that it will find in internal re- 
collection, without desisting, until the sun of internal light 
begins to appear, and the Lord gives it his blessing." 

"The Lord intimated to Francesca Lopaz of Yalenza, 
three things of great weight and consequence, in order to 
internal recollection: 'In the first place, that a quarter of 
an hour of prayer, with introversion of the senses and fac- 
ulties, and with resignation and humility, does more good 
to the soul than five days of penitential exercises, hair- 
clothes, disciplines, fastings, and sleeping on bare boards ; 
because these are only mortifications of the body, but with 
recollection the ^oul is purified. 

" ' Secondly, that it is more pleasing to the Divine Ma- 
jesty, to have the soul in quiet and devout prayer for the 
space of an hour, than to make long pilgrimages ; because 
that in prayer it receives good for itself, and for those for 
whom it prays, gives delight to God, and procures a high 
degree of glory; but in pilgrimage, commonly the soul is 
distracted, and the senses are diverted, to which succeeds 
a decay of virtue, besides many other dangers. 

"'Thirdly, that constant pra3'-er consists in keeping the 
heart always upright toward God; and that a soul, to be 
internal, ought rather to act with the affection of the will, 
than the toil of the intellect.'" 

" There are three kinds of silence. The first is of words, 
the second of desires, and the third of thoughts. The 
first is good; the second better; and the third best and 
most perfect. In the first, that is, of words, virtue is ac- 
quired ; in the second, of desires, quietness is attained to ; 
in the third, of thoughts, internal recollection is gained. 
By not speaking, nor desiring, nor thinking [our own self- 
ish thoughts], we arrive at the true, perfect, and mystical 
silence, wherein God speaks with the soul, communicates 
himself to it, and in the abyss of its own depth teaches it 

15 



326 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

tlie most perfect and exalted wisdom. Thou art to keep. 
thyself in this mystical silence, if thou wouldst hear the 
SYv'eet and divine voice. Rest in this mystical silence, and 
open the door, that so God may communicate himself unto 
thee, unite with thee, and then form thee into himself." 

"There are two sorts of spiritual persons, internal and 
external. These last seek God without, by discourse, by 
imagination, and consideration. They chiefly endeavor to 
get virtues by many abstinences, by macerations of the 
body, and mortification of the senses. They give them- 
selves to rigorous penance ; they put on sackcloth, chas- 
tise the flesh by discipline, keeping outwardly silent in the 
presence of God, forming him present in their imagination, 
sometimes as a pastor, sometimes as a phj^sician, and some- 
times as a father and Lord. They delight to be continually 
seeking God, very often making fervent acts of love; and 
all this is art and meditation. By this w^ay they desire to 
be great, and by the power of voluntary and exterior mor- 
tification they go in quest of sensible affections and warm 
sentiments, thinking that God resides in them only when 
they have these things. This is the external way, and the 
way of beginners. But there is no arriving at perfection 
by it. Nay, there is not so much as one step toward it ; 
as experience shows in many, who, after fifty years of this 
external exercise, are void of God, and full of themselves, 
having nothing of a spiritual man, but the name only. 

'' There are others truly spiritual, who have got beyond 
the beginnings of the interior way, which leads to perfec- 
tion and union with God ; and to which the Lord called 
them by his infinite mercy, from that outward way, in 
which before they had exercised themselves. These men, 
retired, in the inward part of their souls, with true resig- 
nation into the hands of God, with a total putting off and 
even forgetting of themselves, do always go with a raised 



MICHAEL DE MOLINOS. 32t 

spirit to the presence of the Lord, by the means of pure 
faith ; without image, form, or figure, but with great as- 
surance founded in traYiquillity and internal rest ; in which 
infused recollection, the Spirit attracts with so much force, 
that it makes the soul turn inward with all its powers. 
These souls, as they are already passed through the inte- 
rior mortification, and have been cleansed by God with 
the fire of tribulation, ordained by his hand and after his 
way, are masters of themselves, because they are entirely 
subdued and denied, which makes them live with great re- 
pose and internal peace. And although on many occasions 
they feel resistance and temptations, yet they become pres- 
ently victorious, because being already proved, and endued 
with divine strength, the motions of passions cannot last 
long upon them ; and although vehement temptations and 
troublesome suggestions of the enemy may continue a long 
time about them, they are all conquered with infinite gain ; 
God being he that fights within them. 

''These souls have already attained a great light, and a 
true knowledge of Christ our Lord, both of his divinity 
and bis humanity. They exercise this infused knowledge 
with a quiet silence in the inward recollection of the supe- 
rior part of their souls, with a spirit free from images and 
external ideas, with a love that is pure and divested of all 
creaturely affection. There is no news that terri- 
fies them ; no success that elevates them ; tribulations never 
disturb them; nor do the interior, continual, and divine 
communications which they receive, make them vain and 
conceited. They remain always full of holy and filial fear, 
in a wonderful peace, constancy, and serenity." 

"Oh, how much is there to be purified in a soul, before 
it arrives at the holy mountain of perfection, and trans- 
formation with God ! Oh, how self-divested, naked, and 
brought to nothing, ought the soul to be, which would not 



328 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

hinder the entrance of the Divine Lord into it, nor his con- 
tinual communication with it!" 

''There are two sorts of humility; one false and coun- 
terfeit, the other true. The false humility is like fountains 
or falling waters, which must mount upward before they 
fall. Those who possess this feigned humility, avoid 
esteem and honor that so they may be taken to be humble. 
They say of themselves, that they are evil, that they may 
be thought good ; and though they know their own mis- 
ery, yet they are loth that others should know it. This 

dissembled humility is nothing but secret pride 

As much, nay more, does false humility displease Grod, 
than pride does ; because false humility is hypocrisy be- 
sides." 

" That thou mayst be acquainted with interior or true 
humility, know, that it doth not consist in external acts, 
in taking the lowest place, in wearing mean clothes, in 
speaking submissively, in shutting the eyes, in affectionate 
sighings, nor in condemning thy ways, calling thyself mis- 
erable, to give others to understand that thou art humble. 
It consists only in the contempt of thyself, and a willing- 
ness to be despised, with a low and profound knowledge 
of thyself, without concerning thyself whether thou art 

esteemed humble or not The light, wherewith 

the Lord with his grace enlightens the soul, discovers the 
greatness of God, and at the same time shows the soul its 
own misery; insomuch that no tongue is able to express 
the depth in which it is overwhelmed ; being willing that 
every one should know its baseness ; and it is so far from 
vain-glory and complacency, that it sees this grace of Grod 
to be the effect of his mere goodness, and nothing but his 
mercy, which is pleased to take pity on it." 

''Although outward solitude doth much assist for the 
obtaining of internal peace, yet the Lord did not mean 



MICHAEL DE MOLINOS. 329 

this, when he spake by his prophet (Hos. ii. 14), 'I will 
bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably to 
her.' But he meant the interior solitude, which jointly 
conduces to obtaining the precious jewel of internal peace. 
Internal solitude consists in the forgetting of the crea- 
tures, in disengaging one's self from them, in a perfect 
strippedness of all the affections, desires, and thoughts, of 
one's own will. This is the true solitude, where the soul 
reposes with a sweet and inward serenity in the arms of 

its Chief Grood There the Lord converses, and 

communicates himself inwardly with the soul; there he 
fills it with himself, because it is empty ; clothes it with 
light and with his love, because it is naked ; lifts it up, be- 
cause it is low ; and unites it with himself and transforms 
it, because it is alone. Oh, delightful solitude, and earnest 
of eternal blessings ! Oh, mirror, in which the Eternal 

Father is always beheld! Oh, Divine Lord I how 

is it that souls do not seek this glory on earth? How 
come they to lose so great a good, through the love and 

desire of created things ? Blessed soul, how happy 

wilt thou be, if thou dost but leave all for God — seek him 
only — breathe after none but him — let him only have thy 
sighs!" 

''By these six steps the abstracted soul rises higher, and 
gains experience in the spiritual and internal way : — In the 
first step, which is fire, the soul is illuminated by the means 
of a divine and ardent ray, enkindling the divine affections, 
and drying up those which are but human. 

" The second is, the anointing, a sweet and spiritual 
unction, which diffusing itself over the soul, teaches it, 
strengthens it, and disposes it to receive and contemplate 
the divine truth. And sometimes it extends even to nature 
itself, corroborating and strengthening it with a sensible 
pleasure that seems celestial. 



330 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

*' The third is, the elevation of the inner man above itself, 
by which it is introdaced into the clear fountain of pure 
love. 

"The fourth step, which is illumination, is an infused 
knowledge, whereby the soul sweetly contemplates the 
divine truths, rising still from one clearness to another, 
from one light to another, from knowledge to knowledge ; 
being guided by the Divine Sph^it. 

" The fifth is, a savory pleasure of the divine sweetness, 
issuing forth from the plentiful and precious fountain of the 
Holy Spirit. 

''The sixth is, a sweet and admirable tranquillity, arising 
from the victory obtained after inward fightings and con- 
tinual prayer. And this, very few have experience of. 
Here, the abundance of joy and peace is so great, that the 
soul seems to be in a sweet sleep, solacing and reposing 
itself in divine love." 

" The sermons of men of learning, who want the Spirit, 
though they are made up of divers stories, elegant descrip- 
tions, acute discourses, and exquisite proofs, yet are by no 
means the word of God, but the word of men, plated over 
with false gold. These preachers spoil Christians, feeding 
them with wind and vanity; and so both speakers and 
hearers become void of God. These teachers feed their 
hearers with the wind of hurtful subtleties, giving them 
stones instead of bread, leaves instead of fruit, and unsavory 
earth mixed with poisoned honey, instead of true food. 
These are they that hunt after honor, raising up an 
idol of reputation and applause, instead of seeking God's 
glory, and the spiritual edification of men. Those that 
preach with zeal and sincerity, preach for God. Those 
that preach without these, preach for themselves. Those 
who preach the word of God with the Spirit, make it take 
hold on the heart ; but those who preach without the Spirit, 
carry it no farther than the ear." 



MICHAEL DE MOLINOS. 331 

''0 Divine Majesty! in whose presence the pillars of 
heaven do quake and tremble! thou Goodness Infinite, 
in whose love the seraphim burn ! Permit me, Lord ! 
to lament our blindness and ingratitude! We live in a de- 
lusion, seeking the foolish world, and forsaking thee, who 
art our God . We forsake thee, the fountain of living waters, 
for the stinking dirt of the world ! 

" 0, we children of men! how long shall we follow after 
lying and vanity ? Who is it that hath thus deceived us, 
that we should forsake God, our greatest good? Who is 
it that speaks the most truth to us ? Who is it that loves 
us most? Who defends us most? Who is it that doth 
more to show himself a friend ? Who more tender to show 
himself a husband, and more good to be a father ? How 
great must our blindness be, that we should forsake this 
greatest and infinite goodness ! 

" Divine Lord, how few souls are there in the world, 
who serve thee in perfection ! How small is the number 
of those who are willing to suffer, that they may follow 
Christ crucified, that they may embrace the cross, that they 
may deny and contemn themselves ! . . . What a scarcity of 
souls is there, who are disposed to let the Divine Creator 
work in them a willingness to suffer, that they may reign ; 
to die, that they may live ! . . . . Great reason hath heaven 
to lament, that there are so few souls to follow its precious 
path-way! ' The ways of Zion mourn, because none come 
to the solemn feasts ;' but ' Him that cometh unto me, I will 
in no wise cast out.' " 

Such sentiments as these, so contrary to the outward 
and formal profession of the church of Rome, nevertheless 
circulated freely in and from the papal metropolis itself, 
for several years. The pope was a personal friend of the 
author, and several of his high officers had already com- 
mitted themselves to the work on its first appearance, and 



332 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

before its inconsistency with the prevalent sj^stem was sus- 
pected, or at least much talked of. So that it had time to 
be so widely distributed that all attempts afterward to sup- 
press it were in vain. But at length the Jesuits and Do- 
minican monks took the alarm. In the words of an anony- 
mous writer of a few years afterward (supposed to be the 
Chevalier Ramsay), whose biography of Molinos has been 
translated into English by T. Digby Brooke, and furnishes 
perhaps the most complete account of any now to be found 
of the life of this excellent man — and which we shall oc- 
casionally quote in regard to the succeeding portion of his 
life — these priests ''saw their trade decay, and branded 
Molinos with the infamous name of a heretic. They got 
the Inquisition to take cognizance of his book. And as 
the Jesuit Esparsa had given it an authentic approbation, 
it is said, they privately shut him up within four walls. 
Whatever way they dispatched him, he was seen no more. 
So dangerous it is to do any good or honest thing which 
incurs the wrath of the Jesuits." 

Molinos and his friend, the Cardinal Petrucci, were ar- 
raigned, before the Inquisition ; but they defended them- 
selves so well, and so fully refuted the attacks of their ac- 
cusers, that these were condemned as scandalous and 
defamatory libels, to the great joy and encouragement of 
Molinos's numerous disciples. Petrucci was made by the 
pope, Bishop of Jessi, and we are told that his "life and 
manners were in every respect so exemplary, that his ene- 
mies could find no occasion against him, except that he 
omitted those exteriors of religion, which in the Romish 
church make a person pass for a saint." 

The Jesuits and their partisans were excessively cha- 
grined at their defeat, and began even to find fault with 
what they thought the blindness of the pope, in not seeing 
through the pernicious designs which they attributed to 



MICHAEL DE MOLTNOS. 333 

Molinos and his friends. ''On the other hand, it was ob- 
served, concerning the exemplary life of Molinos, with his 
disinterestedness, which induced him not to accept of any 
worldly dignity or ecclesiastical benefice, though for a long 
time in very high favor both with the pope and cardinals — 
with the unspotted conduct of his disciples, to which all 
Italy bore witness, — that there could be no stronger proof 
of his and their piety and sincerity." 

But the Jesuits determined to leave no stone unturned 
to accomplish their object. '' They sent privately to Spain, 
to examine the registers of his native place, in order to 
find out whether he might not be descended from the an- 
cient stock of the Jews or Moors ; and in that case they 
would have raised a clamor of his having sucked in their 
impieties with his milk." They also applied to the King 
of France, through the Pere la Chaise, who represented to 
Louis XIY. that it would be a great glory to him, not only 
to destroy heresy in France, which he was then attempting 
by the destruction of the Huguenots, but in Italy also, where 
*' one Molinos had infected it with pernicious errors," which 
were spreading not only there but in France also, and that 
by inducing the pope (who was thought to be favorable to 
Austria) to busy himself with a persecution against Mo- 
linos, the king would, first, ruin heresy, — second, weaken 
the party of Spain, — and third, by making work for the 
pope, prevent his disturbing the interests of France. 

These reasons, unworthy as they were, prevailed with 
the great monarch. He ordered his ambassador. Cardinal 
d'Etrees, to pursue the matter with the utmost rigor ; and 
the cardinal, not willing to lose the favor of his prince .and 
his lucrative and important position, preferred to belie his 
own convictions, betray his friend, and become the ready 
tool of despotism and persecution. Through his intrigues 
and influence, Molinos was suddenly cited to appear before 

15* 



334 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

the Inquisition, and detained in custody. The cardinal, 
who had some years before translated into Italian a book of 
Francis Malaval's of much the same tenor as the vv^ritings 
of Molinos, had now turned traitor to his best feelings, and 
had presented to the pope a remonstrance from the King of 
France, wherein that monarch boldly set forth, "that it was 
a strange thing, that while he himself, as eldest son of the 
church, was employing all his power in the extirpation of 
heresies, his holiness was entertaining even in the Vatican 
an impious seducer of souls, and protecting a public de- 
spiser of the sacred ceremonies." The cardinal seconded 
this expostulation of Louis, by adding that he was ready to 
prove Molinos to be a heretic. To this the pope, who 
doubtless felt that he was in the power of the machinations 
of the French king, only replied, that the cardinal might 
address himself to the Inquisition ; thus also giving up his 
friend to the power of his enemies, from a slavish fear of 
the result of standing to his convictions. 

To the Inquisition accordingly d'Etrees presented him- 
self, with extracts from the books of Molinos, and from, 
papers of his which had been seized. " He would not 
allow Molinos to give the sense and meaning of his own 
writings, ' because,' said he, ' his obscure terms enclose 
mysteries, which he has discovered to me.' The^ Inquisi- 
tors, astonished, and at that time apparently loth to pro- 
ceed against Molinos, asked the cardinal, 'how he could 
for so long a time be the particular friend of a man whom 
he now represented to be so wicked ?' To this the cardi- 
nal, without shame, readily replied, 'All that he had done 
was in disguise, in order to discover the more easily the 
pernicious designs of the Quietists ; that from the very 
first he had seen into the impious consequences of their 
doctrine ; but that he had prudently dissembled, to see 
how far they would carry their impiety; that he had often 



MICHAEL DE MOLINOS. 335 

approved with the mouth, what he detested in his heart! 
But that the necessity of penetrating to the bottom of those 
abominable mysteries had obliged him to have recourse to 
such dissimulation; — that in all this, he had done nothing 
but what was conformable to the holy Inquisition, which 
allows of those pious frauds, when one can by no other 
way come at clear and convincing proofs against a here- 
tic,' " etc. 

This was in the year 1685, and Molinos was thereupon 
cast into prison. During several months, however, his 
treatment was not characterized by the usual cruelty of 
the Inquisition, as the pope could not, readily forget all at 
once their mutual affection, and said that " Molinos might 
have fallen into some errors, yet he believed him to be a 
good man." Thus he remained for nearly two years, pub- 
lic sentiment being greatly divided in regard to his guilt or 
innocence. Meantime, however, a storm broke out against 
some of his disciples. " The Count and Countess Yespi- 
niani, with others to the number of seventy, and amdng 
them some eminent for learning and piety, were put into 
prison, accused of omitting the exterior practices of rehgion, 
and giving themselves entirely to solitude and inward 
prayer. The answers of the countess on this occasion 
astonished her judges. She said, ' she had never discovered 
her manner of devotion to an}^ but her confessor — that it 
was impossible for them to have learned it but from him — 
consequently he was a wicked man, who had betrayed her, 
and revealed her confession — and who but idiots would go 
to confess, when priests let it be seen that they make use 
of confessions only to discover secrets, — but that she was 
resolved in future to confess to God only.' The noble firm- 
ness of the countess quite confounded them. Not daring 
to act with rigor against a person of her quality, and not 
willing to give room to any more such bold answers, by 



336 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

keeping her any longer in prison, they set her and her hus- 
band at liberty, on their promise to appear before them as 
often as they should be required." 

'' It is impossible to describe the consternation of the 
people, both at Kome and almost over all Italy, when they 
saw, in less than a month, nearly two hundred persons put 
into the Inquisition." The Inquisitors even went so far as 
to send deputies to examine the pope in regard to his favor- 
ing the new heresy, partly, it is most probable, with a view 
to intimidate him into a compliance with the contemplated 
measures. It was said that "they held strange discourses 
about it at Kome," but what passed at that extraordinary 
conference was not allowed to transpire. 

Meantime measures were set on foot by the Inquisitors 
to crush out the novel views, which were spreading among 
the people through the influence of those writings of Mo- 
linos, the circulation of which had been at first sanctioned 
by some of their own number. The bishops in various 
dioceses through Italy were enjoined to forbid and disperse 
the assemblies of those who favored these novelties, their 
books were ordered to be seized, and they were to be com- 
pelled to resume those ceremonious exercises which for 
conscience' sake they had discontinued Many of the 
bishops, however, had become so favorable to the senti- 
ments of Molinos, that they were in no haste to obey the 
inquisitorial order; and by some means the letter of the 
Inquisitors being translated from the Latin to the ItaMan, 
and spread among the common people, contrary to their 
usual custom to maintain the secrecy of their transactions, 
it produced great dissatisfaction through the city. "This 
letter was followed up with nineteen articles imputed to 
the Quietists, to every one of which a short pretended 
refutation was subjoined. The sentiments of Molinos and 
his disciples were portrayed therein in the blackest colors 



MICHAEL DE MOLINOS, 33t 

with mach malignity. But they never mentioned whence 
they drew those sentiments, for fear lest such as had made 
those extracts might be convicted of infidelity and malice." 

"The prisons of the Inquisition filled fast every day. 
The fright all over the city was so general and so great, 
that only they whose public debauch and riot, or whose 
ignorance and stupidity screened them, thought themselves 
out of danger. It was said that the Inquisitors, in their 
examination of the prisoners, found some who answered 
nobly, and showed more knowledge than their examiners. 

"The pope still showed regard for Cardinal Petrucci, 
and permitted him to visit Molinos in prison, with whom 
he had a long conversation. The pope's mildness had 
given some hopes to the friends of Molinos ; but their fears 
redoubled when they thought of the number and credit of 
his adversaries. Yery formidable enemies, especially in 
Italy, are all the different orders of monks joined together; 
of whom they reckon 500,000 ; among them 40,000 Jesuits; 
and in the single city of Naples 25,000 ecclesiastics, both 
regular and secular. This reflection made them look upon 
the condemnation of Molinos as inevitable. They foresaw 
that the Inquisitors (like Caiaphas) would conclude that it 
was better that one man perish, though innocent, than that 
the whole nation of monks should be starved, and super- 
stition, to which they owe their subsistence, authority, and 
riches, destroyed. 

" The condemnation of Molinos was then resolved on, 
and the noise of it spread in the city. Of a million of per- 
sons who were thought to be engaged (through Italy) in 
the sentiments of the Quietists, not one was found who 
dared to open his mouth in favor of their chief. So com- 
pletely had the Inquisition, like some humcane or earth- 
quake, struck an universal panic, that innocence turned 
pale, fortitude trembled and was dumb, while cowardice 



338 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

and baseness joined the general ciy, and easily carried all 
before them." 

"The Inquisitors gave out that they had not condemned 
Molinos till they had heard the depositions of fourteen wit- 
nesses ; eight of whom presented themselves ; and the truth 
was drawn from the other six {by tortures). But these 
fourteen witnesses, it is more than probable, were not 
worth one good one. Such as come to present themselves 
to accuse an unhappy man, are generally people hardened 
in wickedness ; and for the others, how common is it for 
tortures to force men to utter falsehoods." 

The Jesuits appear to have aroused the feelings of the 
lowest classes of the people, not only against the reformer, 
whom they had in confinement, but also against the pope, 
whose assent to his restraint and condemnation had been 
obtained with difficulty. But having granted his assent, 
that functionary dared no longer to interfere in behalf of 
his former friend, unless we may attribute to his influence 
the fact that Mohnos was never publicly condemned to the 
flames. 

On the day appointed for the mock ceremony of his con- 
demnation, a great crowd was assembled in the hall set 
apart for the purpose, the old Temple of Minerva, and a 
plenary indulgerice was offered to all who should assist at 
it. Mohnos was conveyed from his prison in an open car- 
riage, with a monk at his side, and arriving at the Minerva, 
was left for some time in a gallery. When at length eon- 
ducted to the place assigned to him, he showed not the 
least mark of fear or confusion. He had his hands bound 
together, and a lighted wax-taper placed within them. 
"His countenance and carriage manifested a steady firm- 
ness, such as showed no consciousness of any guilt, how- 
ever charged with it by his enemies. Meantime, two 
monks, clad in long robes, read his process with a loud 



MICHAEL DE MOLINOS. 339 

voice. Some people were suborned to cry out, at the read- 
ing of certain articles, 'To the fire — to the fire !' All the 
people joining', echoed the cry, and became so animated to 
madness, that if the guards, in leading him back to prison, 
had not opposed the insolence of the mob, he must have 
fallen the speedy victim of their fury. When he was near 
the little cell, in which he was to be shut up for the rest of 
his life, he entered it with great tranquillity, naming it his 
closet. Then taking leave of the friar who had attended 
him, he said, 'Farevv^ell; at the day of judgment we shall 
see each other again ; and then it will appear on which side 
the truth is, whether on yours or on mine.' 

"After this we hear no more of him ; his life and death 
being kept private among the Inquisitors and their offi- 
cers." It was said that, in seizing his papers, they had 
collected above 20,000 letters, which had been received by 
him, asking spiritual counsel ; which, if correct, shows the 
extent of his influence among the people abroad. He is 
said, in Foxe's ''Acts and Monuments," to have suffered 
many cruelties from his keepers in the Inquisition, and 
that at length his physical strength gave way under his 
accumulated sufferings and privations. It is asserted in the 
American Encyclopedia that he died in the year 1696. But 
there has always been a mystery in regard to the mode 
and time of the death of this spiritually-minded man ; and 
the silence maintained by the authorities at Rome has led 
to many doubts, whether his days were not shortened by 
that hand of violence so often resorted to in that institution. 

Some authors have undertaken to say that he was com- 
pelled to a public recantation of his sentiments ; but of this 
we have no information of an authentic and clear character, 
and it may be deemed at least extremely doubtful, and 
probably a mere calumny of his enemies. No hint of such 
a thing appears in the account from which we have so freely 



340 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

quoted ; which seems to have been written either by a co- 
temporary, or by one entirely conversant with all the cir- 
cumstances. 

In the year 1819, Stephen Grellet, a citizen of the United 
States, though born in France, travelling in Italy, visited 
Rome, and was allowed to see the interior of the Inquisition. 
His account of his visit (published in his Journal after his 
decease) is as follows: ''The entrance is into a spacious 
yard, in which nothing is in view but extensive and sump- 
tuous buildings, containing their very large library, paint- 
ings, etc. On the left hand is a door, hardly to be noticed, 
which opens through a very thick wall into an open space, 
round which are buildings of three stories, with many cells. 
The doors of all these open into passages fronting the yard. 
These cells, or small prisons, are very strongly built. The 
walls are of great thickness, all arched over. Some were 
appropriated to men, others to women. There was no pos- 
sibility for any of the inmates to see or communicate with 
each other. The prison where Molinos was confined, was 
particularly pointed out. I visited also the prisons or cells 
underground, and was in the place where the Inquisitors 
sat, and where tortures were inflicted on the poor sufferers. 
But everything bore marks that for many years these 
abodes of misery had not been at all frequented.',' 

He went likewise into the public library, and was after- 
ward introduced into the secret library. " It is," he says, 
" a spacious place, shelved round up to the ceiling, and 
contains books, manuscripts, and papers condemned by the 
Inquisition after they had read them. In the fore part of 
each book, the objections to it are stated in general terms, 
or a particular page, and even a line, is referred to, dated 
and signed by the Inquisitor. . . . Some of them contain very 
interesting matter, and evince that the writers were, in 
many particulars, learned in the school of Christ. I could 



MICHAEL DE MOLTNOS. 341 

have spent days in that place. . . . There are many Bibles in 
the several languages ; whole editions of some thousand 
volumes, of the writings of Molinos." 

He afterward went into the " Secretaire rie," where the 
records of the Inquisition for many centuries are kept. He 
says, " They are kept as the books of a merchant's journal 
and ledger, so that looking into the ledger for any name, 
and turning thence to the various entries in the journal, a 
full statement is found, from the entrance of the poor suf- 
ferer into the Inquisition, to the time of his release or death, 
and in what way it took place, by fire or other torture, or 
by natural death. The kind of torture he underwent at 
each examination is described, and also what confessions 
were extorted from him. All these books are alphabetic- 
ally arranged I could have spent days in this place 

also ; but the examination of some of the books, of several 
centuries, gave a pretty full view of the whole subject. 
This is an examination that probably very few have made, 
or are allowed to make." 

With such an opportunity, it is matter of regret that he 
did not examine the record of the incarceration of Michael 
de Molinos, and thereby obtain the requisite information 
once for all to settle the very doubtful question of the 
duration of his sufferings, and by what means his spirit 
was at length released to its eternal rest. 



• 42 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 



CHAPTER XYII. 

JANE MARY GUION. 

Of the life and voluminous writings of this eminently 
gifted woman and true reformer, our limits will only permit 
a comparatively brief outline. She and Fenelon, though 
not professing any fellowship or connection either with the 
Protestants or with the Jansenists, have become identified 
with the history of the religious awakenings in France 
during the reign of Louis XIY. 

Neither of them, it is true, saw through the whole of the 
great mass of errors in the doctrines of the Romish church ; 
though they seem to have looked oner them to something 
far better, and to have seen much /z^W/ier than the ceremo- 
nial limits of popery. This was especially the case with 
the subject of this notice. Fenelon himself, as a man, may 
almost be said to have been an unconscious Protestant; 
but, as a priest, he was nevertheless a Papist. Both of 
them, .though still cherishing their connection with the 
papal system, in which they had been educated, were in 
reality permanently efficient in the work of reformation, 
and in spirit were unquestionably more evangelical than 
many of the acknowledged reformers themselves. 

Jeanne Marie Bouvieres de la Mothe was born in the 
year 1648, at Montargis, a town about fifty miles south of 
Paris, and was the daughter of Claude Bouvieres, Seigneur 
de la Mothe Yergonville. When she was about four years 
of age, at the solicitation of the Duchess of Montbason, a 
friend of her father's, who requested the favor of his little 
daughter's company in her temporary retirement, she was 



JANE MARY GUION. 343 

placed with her in the convent of the Benedictine Nuns in 
Montargis. During this early period of her life, through the 
merciful visitations of divine love, she had many religious 
impressions, and made resolutions to lead a life of devotion 
to her Heavenly Father. 

How long she remained in this convent does not appear. 
But her health failing, she returned home, and in the sev- 
enth year of her age was again sent away, to be under the 
charge of a half-sister in a convent of Ursuline jSTuns. 
Some of her early religious impressions seem to have 
given way under the various temptations to which this 
period of her 3-outh was exposed. She became less watch- 
ful over her conduct and temper, and less careful in regard 
to strict truthfulness in her words ; yet her general deport- 
ment was such as to attract the esteem of those by whom 
she was surrounded, and she made rapid progress in her 
studies. When ten years of age she returned home ; but 
was soon again sent away from the parental roof, and 
placed for further instruction in a Dominican convent, 
where she remained eight months. While here, though 
the pupils had not generally any opportunity of reading 
the Bible, a cop}^ of it had, by some means which has not 
been explained, been left in her room. She gladly seized 
the opportunity thus, as it were, providentially afforded her, 
of an acquaintance with its contents. In her own account of 
her life she says : "I spent whole days in reading it, giving 
no attention to other books or other subjects from morning 
to night. And having great powers of recollection, I com- 
mitted the historical parts to memory." After returning 
home, however, she once more gave way to youthful temp- 
tations and the influence of surrounding persons, and began 
to think she was none the better for what she had as yet 
attained, or for the restraints to which she had submitted. 
Her religion at this time, as she afterward acknowledged, 



344 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

was too much outward, and self-love was at the bottom of 
it, rather than the pure love of her Heavenly Father. Of 
course it was liable to great fluctuations, and by no means 
proof against the temptations of the cunning enemy. As 
she grew up, the comeliness of her person attracted many 
admirers ; the world began to beguile her with its charms ; 
and her mother indulging her in elegance of attire, she in- 
curred great danger of entire forgetfulness of God, or of 
the necessity of walking in the narrow way of self-denial. 
From this state her mind, after a time, was somewhat 
aroused, by being disappointed of an interview with an es- 
teemed relative, who called at her father's house on his 
way to Cochin China as a missionary. She was led to 
reproach herself with her want of obedience to the heavenly 
calls with which she had from time to time been favored ; 
and in too much of her own strength she formed resolu- 
tions of amendment. " She resisted her passions," says her 
American biographer, Upham, '* which were liable to be too 
strongly moved — asked forgiveness of those whom she had 
displeased — visited the poor, gave them food and clothing, 
and taught them the catechism. She spent much time in 
private reading and prayer. She inscribed the name of 
the Saviour in large characters upon a piece of paper, 
and so attached it to her person as to be continually re- 
minded of Him. With an erroneous notion of expiating 
her sin by her own suffering, she voluntarily subjected her- 
self to various bodily austerities." And she even enter- 
tained thoughts of "endeavoring to secure her spiritual 
interests and her salvation by becoming a nun ;" a plan 
which was frustrated by the affectionate care of her 
father. 

Thus she endeavored, for about a year, to satisfy the un- 
easiness of her conscience by contrivances made in her 
own will and wisdom, and the exercise of what the apostle 



JANE MARY GUION. 345 

calls "voluntary humility;" but her religious feelings 
gradually grew cooler, and from this time until after her 
marriage, she appears to have given way to the fascina- 
tions of the world. Her parents removed in 1663 to 
Paris, and she was introduced into the vortex of gaiety 
and amusement which characterized the court of Louis 
XIV. Here she was married, before completing her six- 
teenth year, to James Gruion,* a man of great wealth but 
of little congeniality of disposition, and of considerably 
more than double her age. This marriage, accomplished 
at the instigation of her father, after an actual acquaint- 
ance of only three days, and consented to by her merely 
out of filial obedience, was fraught with rnany bitter sor- 
rows to her during the twelve years of her husband's sub- 
sequent life. 

Her husband, though he appears to have had a degree 
of affection for her, especially when out of the way of the 
influence of others, was a man of strong impulses and 
fluctuating temper, but little governed or brought under 
control by religious principle. His mother lived with 
them, and continued to claim the management of domestic 
affairs in his house. She was a woman of very little if any 
cultivation of mind, of no refinement of feeling, sordidly 
penurious, and of a violent temper. And James Guion, 
being often severely afflicted with disease, had moreover 
a female nurse constantly in attendance, who by her long 
assiduities had acquired an undue influence over his mind. 
The animosity of this woman, combined with the ill-nature 
of his mother, made the position of his young wife one of 
constant humiliation and unhappiness. She was sneered 
at for her refined sensibilities, listened to only to be rudely 
contradicted or rebuked, allowed no control in the family, 

* It does not appear that either her husband or herself, as sometimes 
supposed, had any title of nobility. 



346 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

insolently told to hold her tongue, and ''scolded from 
morning to night." The contrast was indeed painful be- 
tween her late condition in her father's indulgent mansion, 
and what she was now subjected to. When we reflect on 
her intellectual character as it afterward developed, and 
look upon the great susceptibilitj'^ of her feelings, the live- 
liness of her imagination, and the extraordinary ability of 
her mind, and when we call to mind the fact that she be- 
came the author in after-life of more than thirty small vol- 
umes of religious writings, and was a chief instrument in 
clearing the views of the Abbe Fenelon to perceive the 
spirituality of true religion, we cannot but feel for her un- 
der the heartless treatment to which she was now subjected, 
and from which it was her husband's obvious duty to have 
protected her. To add to her annoyances, she had no 
room in the house which she could call strictly her own, or 
in which she could escape from the constant presence of 
those who combined to act as spies on all her actions. In 
describing her situation she says: "My condition was 
every way deplorable — my proud spirit broke down — mar- 
ried to a person of rank and wealth, I found myself a 
slave in my own dwelling — terror took possession of my 
mind — I found no one to share my grief, or help me to 
bear it — I was alone and helpless." But in a review of 
these trials in after-life, she could acknowledge that the 
Almighty permitted these things because he would not 
have her perish, and that such was the strength of her 
natural pride, that nothing short of some dispensation of 
sorrow could have broken down her high spirit and turned 
her unto Grod. " Thou * hast ordered these things, my 

* Her addresses to the Almighty, in accordance with the practice of the 
Erench, are all in the plural number; but this is so repulsive to our ears, 
that the author has, in rendering them into English, taken the liberty of 
changing them into the singular. 



JANE MARY GUION. 347 

God! for mj salvation. In goodness thou hast afflicted 
me." 

In less than two years, she was visited with the addi- 
tional affliction of severe illness, and the loss of her mother. 
In her distress, she was led once more to look for support 
to her Heavenly Father, entered into serious self-examina- 
tion, and changed her reading from Vv^orks of a worldly 
tendency to those of a religious character. The "Imita- 
tion of Christ," by Thomas a Kempis, was one of the 
books which now engaged her attention, and was proba- 
bly one means whereby her heart was attracted to the in- 
ward work that was needed. Many of her efforts, how- 
ever, she acknowledges, were made in her own strength. 

A remarkable circumstance occurred to her soon after 
completing her twentieth year. After much striving to 
attain a knowledge of religious truth, in the best manner 
that she was then acquainted with (which was chiefly in 
the practice of outward acts of charity, piety, or ceremony), 
without arriving at any satisfaction to her tossed mind, she 
was induced by her father to visit a certain monk of the 
Franciscan order, who had spent much time in retirement, 
and whose spiritual views had proved very acceptable to 
her father during a late severe sickness, leading him to 
more inwardness in the work of religion. She told him 
her condition, and her want of success in all her endeavors. 
He remained a long time entirely silent, and not able to 
speak to her. At length he said, "Madame, it is because 
you seek without that which you have within. Accustom 
yourself to seek God in your own heart, and you will 
there find him." Saying this, he quitted her presence. 
These few words were as a watchword for all her subse- 
quent life; and they were not lost upon her. They went, 
she says, through her heart like an arrow. They met there 
the Witness for truth, which told her that this was the way 



348 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

of life. And though the instrument of this good to her 
soul was a Franciscan monk, we cannot doubt that he 
spoke at that time bj a wisdom better than that of man. 

In narrating this occurrence, she exclaims from the ful- 
ness of her feelings : " O my Lord, thou wast in my heart, 
and requiredst of me only a simple return inward, to enable 
me to feel thy presence ! O infinite goodness, thou wast 
so near, and I was going about running hither and thither 
to seek thee, and found thee not. O beauty, ancient and 
new, wherefore have I been so tardy in knowing thee ? — It 
was for want of understanding thy gospel declaration : 
* The kingdom of God is not here and there ; but the king- 
dom of God is within you.' Thenceforward thou wast my 
King, and my heart became thy kingdom !" 

From this time, though with fluctuations, her daily walk 
became more strict, and less conformed to the manners of 
the world. She gradually renounced all companies of 
pleasure, plays, diversions, dancing, and ostentatious prom- 
enades; and employed herself in domestic duties, and espe- 
cially in attending to the necessities of her poor and sick 
neighbors, to whom she was a bountiful giver, and a kind 
and tender adviser. But her main solicitude was to attain 
to a pure knowledge and love of God, and entire resigna- 
tion and conformity to his holy will. Her domestic griefs 
still continued to be sources of much , affliction ; but she 
bore them with great patience and meekness, believing that 
they would thus be made a means of crucifixion of the 
flesh with the affections and lusts of fallen nature. To this 
work, the subjugation of her own will, the reduction of her 
natural inclination to the cross of Christ, and the sanctifi- 
cation of body, soul, and spirit, through obedience to the 
power of divine grace, she devoted her most earnest 
endeavors ; and though her course was marked by fluctua- 
tions in faithfulness, and she had at times to acknowledge 



JANE MARY GUION. 349 

with grief, that she had failed in entire fidelity to her con- 
victions, yet on the whole she appears to have sustained 
for some years a gradual progress in religious life and expe- 
rience. She increasingly found that the way of life is "a 
strait and narrow way," and that her owm powers, unas- 
sisted by the power of divine grace, could not enable her 
to walk therein. To this divine assistance, then, she en- 
deavored continually to have recourse. 

About this period of her life she formed an acquaintance 
with a spiritually-minded individual, Genevieve Granger, 
the Prioress of a community of Benedictine nuns near 
Paris, and appears to have been greatly helped by the 
pious intercourse which resulted.* About this time also, 
a remarkable and unexpected interview with an entire 
stranger in the streets of Paris, w-as a means of reanimat- 
ing her in the pursuit of holiness. She was walking to a 
place of public worship in the city, when, in crossing a 
bridge, she met with a man in very mean attire, whom at 
first she took for a pauper, and offered him alms. He 
thanked her, but told her he was not requesting any gra- 
tuity. He entered into conversation with her on the infin- 
ite greatness of God, and so sublimely did he speak of the 
"Three that bear record in heaven," that she thought she 
had never before heard the subject so clearly opened. He 
appears to have been of the Romish church ; for he recom- 
mended the ceremony of the mass. He proceeded to depict 
to her, in an astonishing manner, her character and dispo- 
sition, her virtues and her faults, though a total stranger to 
her. She listened to him in respectful silence, and while 
those who Avitnessed the interview thought she was con- 
versing with a crazy man, she felt convinced that he was 
enlightened by the true Wisdom. He concluded by exhort- 

*■ Some of the Benedictines had adopted several of the spiritual views 
of Jansenius. 

16 



o50 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

iiig her to endeavor after perfect salvation and freedom 
from siij in this life, without waiting for the work to be 
accomplished hereafter. His discourse made the way, 
though long, appear quite short; so that she was not sensi- 
ble of her fatigue from having walked much further than 
was usual for her, until her arrival at "Notre Dame," when 
she sank down exhausted. In reply to her inquiry who he 
was, he only told her that he had been a porter, but was 
not so now; and suddenl}'' disappearing, she never saw him 
again. 

Although, during a large portion of her life, she was in 
the midst of society, surrounded by social, and by (so 
called) religious influences, yet in one sense she may be 
said to have been as it were alone — left to work out her 
soul's salvation without the usual aids of the religious fel- 
lowship of such as were truly of a kindred spirit. For 
though many sought her religious help, and many others 
officiously sought to influence her, yet having learned her 
experience in a good measure from the Lord himself, the 
great and sure teacher of his children, she outran her 
teachers, and had no one, or scarcely any, with whom 
walking at an equal pace, she might have been helped 
with the instrumental help of spiritual communion in her 
various and successive trials and difficulties. Perhaps this 
may in part account for her never having seen clearly the 
emptiness of many rites and ceremonies practised by the 
Romish church. She had been educated in strict con- 
formity with its routine of outward observances, and her 
feelings had through habit interwoven them in some degree 
with her sentiments of duty. For she cherished at all 
times, and even under circumstances of outrageous perse- 
cution by the ecclesiastical authorities, a conscientious sen- 
timent of obedience to the functionaries of the Romish 
church, whenever this obedience did not come in direct col- 



JANE MARY GUI ON. 351 

lision with what she had akeady been instructed was the 
divine will in her own particular. It is, hov/ever, sur- 
prising that, with views so clear as she was favored to 
attain to, respecting many portions of Christian doctrine, 
yet on various other matters, relating chiefly to the out- 
ward ceremonies of their worship, she retained, at least to 
a late period of her life, the prejudices of her early educa- 
tion and associations. Among these prejudices was an ab- 
horrence of all that appeared to her to be novelty or innova- 
tions on the doctrines of the church, so that she could never 
bring herself to depart so far from its fidelity (as she sup- 
posed) as to make herself really acquainted with the prin- 
ciples of the Reformers ; yet the tendency of her life and 
doctrines, and the deep inward tenor of her loving spirit, 
waiting constantly on God for its suppKes, was (though 
unknown to herself) in harmony with the purest spirits of 
the Reformation. 

In the summer of 16^2, she was called upon to sustain 
a double privation ver}^ afflicting to her sensitive nature. 
She had already lost her mother. She was now to give up 
her father and her only daughter. While on a visit of 
religious retirement at an abbey, the residence of one of 
her friends, at four o'clock in the morning she suddenly 
awoke, with' a lively impression on her mind that her father 
was dead ; and the strong conviction of it remaining with 
her, so overcame her bodily strength, that when she arose 
and went into the chapel, she fainted, and for some time 
did not regain the power of speech. Yet her grief was ac- 
companied with a feeling of divine support and inward 
peace. She heard nothing in regard to it until after din- 
ner, when a messenger arrived, bringing a letter from her 
husband, announcing that her father, who was at that time 
staying at their house, had been taken extremely ill. She 
said at once, ''He is dead, I cannot doubt it;" and imme- 



352 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

diatelj sent to Paris for a coach to take her to him. Her 
account of the journey states that she departed at nine 
o'clock at night, with none but strangers to accompany her, 
and against the remonstrances of her friend the abbess, who 
knew the danger of travelling on so bad a road, especially 
at that time of the night. She replied to her that she felt 
it her indispensable duty to go to her father. 

"So I set out," she says, "alone, resigned to Providence, 
with people unknown to me. My bodily weakness was 
such that I could not retain m}^ seat in the coach; and 
nevertheless I was often compelled to get out of it, from 
the perilous condition of the roads. I had to pass in this 
way by midnight through a forest which is styled 'cut- 
throat,' renowned for the murders and thefts which have 
been committed there ; on account of which it is feared by 
the boldest people. As for me, I could fear nothing, my 
entire resignation of myself to the Lord's care, having 
enabled me to forget myself so much, that I could not 
dwell upon the danger. Oh, how many terrors and sor- 
rows does a resigned soul avoid ! I had gone to within 
five leagues of our own house, thus accompanied by my 
grief and by divine Love alone, when I met my confessor, 
who had opposed me, with one of my relatives, waiting 
for me. I cannot express the pain I suffered, when I saw 
my confessor; for, while alone, I was tasting of an inex- 
plicable contentment ; but he knew nothing of my condi- 
tion, but contended with me and gave me no liberty. My 
grief was of such a nature that I could not shed a tear, 
though I was ashamed of not being able to show any ex- 
ternal signs of grief, when informed of a circumstance 
which I knew too well already ; for my inward peace was 
so profound that it spread itself over my countenance ; and, 
moreover, the state I was in permitted me not to talk, nor 
to behave as is commonly expected even of pious persons : 



JANE MARY GUION. 353 

I could only dwell in love and silence. When I arrived at 
home, at ten o'clock in the evening, I found they had 
already buried my father, on account of the great heat of 
the weather; and all were in the habits of mourning, I 
had travelled thirty leagues in a day and night ; and as I 
was very weak from exhaustion and want of nourishment, 
they put me at once to bed." 

About two o'clock in the morning her husband, for some 
purpose, arose and left her chamber ; but immediately 
returned, exclaiming with a loud voice, that her little 
daughter was dead ! This was, then, her only daughter, a 
beautiful and lovely child about three years of age, a great 
comfort to her, being warmly attached to her mother, and 
evincing "an extraordinary love" for her Heavenly Father 
for one of such tender years. She had died, it appears, of a 
sudden hemorrhage, without her mother's knowledge that 
she was sick. Thus she was deprived of two earthly com- 
forts at once, her father and her daughter, and left among 
connections whose delight it was continually to thwart her, 
and persecute her, and show in every possible way their 
contempt for her, and their disgust at her religious life. 
She bore her sorrows with extraordinary submission, be- 
lieving that Divine Love was at the bottom of the bitter 
draught. 

Some time after this event, a governess well known in 
the neighborhood sought her acquaintance from admiration 
of her character and deportment. This person, though 
somewhat serious in her sentiments, had no scruple against 
attending public entertainments, and one day invited Jane 
M. Guion to accompany her to the play. This, as she 
dared not comply, brought her (after finding that a subter- 
fuge would not answer as an excuse for declining) to the 
necessity of giving her true conscientious ground of objec- 
tion to such diversions ; and her friend, though much further 



354 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

advanced in age than herself, was so much impressed in 
her spirit by what she said, as to abandon the practice from 
that time, of going to the theatre. 

This friend once afterward, being at her house with an 
acquaintance who talked much, and who had studied the 
writings of "the fathers," they entered into a great deal of 
conversation concerning the Almighty. Jane M. Guion 
says, in relating the occurrence, "the lady spoke scientific- 
ally. I scarcely said anything ; for I was drawn to keep 
silence, feeling even trouble at this manner of speaking con- 
cerning God. My friend came to see me in the morning, 
and told me, that God had so touched her that she could 
no longer resist. I thought she meant that she was touched 
by the conversation of the other lady: but she said to me, 
' Your silence had something in it which spoke to the bot- 
tom of my soul, and I had no taste for what the other was 
saying to me.' . . . It was thus, my God, that thou madest 
such an entrance into the depths of her heart, that thou 
didst not withdraw therefrom, to the day of her death ! . . . 
After the death of her husband and the loss of nearly all 
her property, she came to live on a remnant of her estate 
about four leagues from us. I obtained from Viij husband 
permission to pass some days with her for her consolation, 
and the Lord gave her, through my instrumentality, all 
that was necessary for her. My natural mind was not ca- 
pable of such things ; it was thou, my God, who didst 
give them to me for her sake, causing the waters of thy 
grace to flow into her soul, without considering the un- 
worthiness of the channel which it was thy pleasure to 
make use of. From this time the soul of my friend has 
been the temple of the Holy Spirit, and our hearts have 
been united by an indissoluble tie." 

Soon came another privation, in the death of her intimate 
friend and confidant, Genevieve Granger ; and this was fol- 



JANE MARY GUION. 355 

lowed by a long period of deep poverty of spirit, and appa- 
rent desertion, so that she seemed to herself incapable of 
doing anything acceptable to the Almighty, or even of feel- 
ing the comforting evidences of his presence in her soul. 
This barren and desolate state of mind lasted for seven 
years. It may have been intended by Him who knew 
what she needed, to draw her away from a dependence on 
outward observances and austerities, and reliance on them 
as means of spiritual strength, and to fix her faith more 
firmly on His immediate and inspeaking Word in her soul ; 
and it seems to have had to some extent such an effect. 
She had been accustomed, in her great zeal to mortify the 
flesh, and doubtless in a compliance with what had been 
instilled into her mind as duties by her priestly directors, 
to subject herself to a surprising variety of austerities by 
way of penance for her sins, and in order to overcome the 
self-love and vanity which she felt so strong in her nature. 
She describes how she used not only to long for crosses 
(as if her many domestic tribulations were not enough of 
their kind), but plentifully to multiply them by compelling 
herself to do things exceedingly disagreeable to her feelings. 
She willingly undertook the most repulsive offices of the 
nurse toward the sick poor, when others might have re- 
lieved her 5 she sent away from her own portion at table to 
the poor, the things which were particularly agreeable to 
her palate ; she tormented her flesh with rough bandages 
with iron points in them, and also with brambles, nettles, 
and such things, which often prevented her from sleeping ; 
she would hold wormwood in her mouth, and put bitter 
apple into her food ; she would place pebbles in her shoes 
when she went to go out ; she would have teeth drawn 
when they did not ache, and would not have them ex- 
tracted when they did ; she once poured melted lead on her 
bare flesh, but findino- that it flowed off immediatelv, she let 



356 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

melted sealing-wax fall on her skin, which stuck and made 
a sore ; and when she held a lighted match or taper, she 
would allow it to burn down to the end, so that it might 
burn her fingers. Bat in recounting some such things in 
after-life, she says, " These are not in reality crosses nor 
pains ; our own choice can only make trifling crosses ; it is 
for thee, my crucified Lord, to fashion them to thy will, 
and make them weighty." And in another place she re- 
marks, as the result of further experience, that " austerities, 
how great soever, if not accompanied by what I have been 
speaking of [the living inward prayer of faith], always 
leave the natural senses in vigor, and never really mortify 
them: but this, with mental introversion, destroys their 
very life." And toward the close of her life, in allusion to 
a certain period of trial, when the words of David (Ps. Ixix. 
10) were impressed upon her mind, she made this acknowl- 
edgment — " Thus, as long as my health permitted it, I made 
very rigorous fasts and austere penances ; but that appeared 
to me [afterward] to be but as burnt straw : one moment of 
the leadings of God is a thousand times greater help." 

Probably it was in the latter part of her life that she 
wrote as follows, on the subject of austerities, in a letter to 
one of her friends : " I have great hopes of your soul, if 
you continue faithful to the beginnings of the inward 
work." ..." Do not think of undergoing austerities ; but die 
to the taste and liking you have for them. Your health 
will not admit of it. The enenw is very busy when he 
sees a soul willing to betake itself to silent prayer, and 
whose body is weak and unhealthy, to give it a taste and 
liking for austerities. He does this upon a twofold account — 
first, that the mind may be turned ontward, and so hindered 
from bending its strength inward ; secondly, that he may 
destroy its health, and frustrate by that means the good 
purpose of God. If you had a strong and sound body, 



JANE MARY GUION. 35t 

and suffered yourself to be ruled by your appetite, I should 
not talk to you in this manner. 

"But I will teach you another kind of mortification, 
which, without hurting your health, will have a greater 
effect than the austerities chosen by you. Mortify your 
peculiar tastes, your propensities, and your inclinations ; 
and as for your own will, never adhere to it. Bear with 
patience and resignation your excessive and frequent suf- 
ferings of body. Suffer, out of love to God, all that may 
happen of contradiction, ill manners, or negligence in those 
who serve you ; bear with what thwarts, displeases, and 
incommodes you, in fellowship with the sufferings of Christ. 
By this practice you will take bitter remedies, to honor the 
gall and vinegar which Jesus partook of." ... . "Die to all 
sorts of height and magnificence; and you will make a 
greater sacrifice to God than if you fasted every day of 
your life with only bread and water. All depends on the 
mortifying of our own will and corrupt affections. THis is 
what St. Paul calls the circumcision of the heart." 

During the above mentioned period of deep trial from 
the feeling of desertion and poverty of spirit, her husband, 
who had long been subject to severe attacks of gout and 
other diseases, died. She believed that his last illness was 
blest to him ; and she had the satisfaction of knowing that 
during it he had conducted himself affectionately toward 
her, and had even begged her to forgive him, and acknowl- 
edged his unworthiness of her. For more tiian three weeks 
of his illness she scarcely left his bedside. He died in the 
summer of 16 1 6, leaving her a widow in the twenty-ninth 
year of her age, with two sons and one infant daughter. 
This daughter afterward married Louis Nicolas Fouquet, 
Count de Yaux, son of a celebrated financier under Louis 
XIY. 

Her husband's death placed in her charge the arrange- 
16* 



358 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

ment of his large estate, and of many affairs belonging to 
other parties in his hands, which she was enabled to ac- 
complish to their great satisfaction. She believed that she 
was divinely assisted in these matters, for she was of her- 
self very ignorant in regard to business affairs. But her 
feeling of desolation was extreme. One day, she says, 
when she was more than ordinarily oppressed with it, she 
opened the New Testament, without thinking what she was 
doing, and found these words : ''My grace is sufficient for 
thee ; my strength is made perfect in weakness." For some 
moments she derived consolation from these expressions, 
but it was only for a brief period ; the feeling of desolation 
and desertion again overwhelmed her. In these distresses 
she was brought to see more clearly than ever before, the 
exceeding sinfulness of sin, so that she was induced to 
prefer death rather than to live to grieve her Lord, and 
even cried out, in her grief, for "hell, rather than sin !" 
All that she had done appeared full of faults — her chari- 
ties, her prayers, her penitences, all rose up against her and 
appeared to call for condemnation. She found no remedy 
in her usual resort, confession. She turned everywhere to 
find where she could receive help, "but," she says, ''my 
help could come only from Him who made heaven and 
earth." " When I saw that there was nothing' of my own 
to rely upon for safety, it seemed to me that I had in Jesus 
Christ all that I wanted in myself I was, Lord Jesus, 
that wandering sheep from the house of Israel, whom thou 
camest to save ! Thou becamest indeed the Saviour to her 
who could find no salvation out of thee. Oh, ye strong and 
righteous men ! find such safety as you can in what you 
have done at all good and glorious for God ; as for me, I 
will glory only in my infirmities." 

Some months after her husband's decease, at the instiga- 
tion of her mother-in-law, who still remained implacable 



JANE MARY GUION. 359 

in her disposition toward her, she removed with her chil- 
dren to another house, and had at length the comfort and 
satisfaction of a quiet home. It was in the neighborhood 
of Paris. Here, particularly after the period of desolation 
and apparent desertion had given way to "a peaceful con- 
sciousness of her Saviour's love to her soul — in short, of 
her having the unspeakable mercy and favor of being ac- 
cepted as a spouse of Christ (to use her own expression) — 
which filled her heart with gratitude and love, she employed 
herself in deeds of kindness and benevolence, in frequent 
retirement and prayer, and in the diligent practice of those 
rites of the Romish religion which she still considered in- 
cumbent upon her, as having the sanction of the church in 
v/hich she had been educated, and which, organized and 
carried on as it had been with great pomp and the highest 
assumptions of sacredness and authority for a thousand 
years, appeared to her to be the true church of Christ, al- 
though she saw and felt the wickedness of many of its 
officials. Her views of religious truth were indeed in many 
respects truly surprising, when we consider her education 
and constant associations, and can only be accounted for on 
the ground of an inward experimental acquaintance with 
the " inspeaking Word of Divine Grace," to which it was her 
earnest concern to take heed. Yet, in reading her own ac- 
count of her life, we are continually met by remarks and 
facts which might stumble us in our belief of the depth of 
her inward experience after all, did we not know that the 
divine will and wisdom are not developed to mankind all 
at once, but gradually, as we are able to bear it. Even the 
immediate apostles of our Lord were told : " I have many 
things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now ; 
when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come. He shall lead and 
guide you into all truth." Yet this likewise was expe- 
rienced by the primitive church, after our Lord's ascension, 



360 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

to be somewhat gradual in its development. Many things 
were seen hj the apostles at an early day very clearly. 
Other things were opened to them more gradually. The 
way of life shined more and more clearly to their view, 
unto the perfect day. We need not then, considering the 
strong hold of early impressions upon us all, and the pow- 
erful influence of priestly domination in France, and the 
pervading desire in J. M. Guion's mind, so far as the dic- 
tates of her conscience would allow her, to comply with 
all the requisitions of the church of which she found her- 
self a member — we need not greatly wonder that, notwith- 
standing an extraordinary growth in religious experience, 
she continued to cling to certain superstitions, such as the 
Mass, priestly confession, praying to the Yirgin Mary, a 
high esteem of certain days called saints' days, and an 
undue estimation, to say the least, of images of our Saviour, 
and such things. She must also be acknowledged, perhaps 
from a natural tendency, to have been over-credulous in 
regard to certain circumstances or appearances of a mar- 
vellous character, to which her own account at times al- 
ludes. Her regard for dreams was a discriminating one. 
She made a clear distinction between ordinary dreams and 
those which she deemed to be divine communications for 
our instruction, warning, or encouragement. The latter, 
which are often mentioned in Holy Scripture, she said, are 
characterized by a certain sense attending them that they 
have a mysterious application, by not being so easily eft'aced 
from the memory as common dreams, by even an increas- 
ing sense on the mind in recurring to them that there was 
a certain truth in them, and particularly, that they are 
mostly followed, on awaking, by a measure of solemnizing 
unction to the spirit. Her belief was, that the Almighty 
still speaks to mankind in various ways, partly in conde- 
scension to their various degrees of attainment; but that 



JANE MARY GUION. 361 

the highest and most pure and certain mode of his commu- 
nication is by his 'Mnspeaking Word" in the introverted, 
humbled, and obedient soul. 

While residing apart from her mother-in-law, she had 
the satisfaction of witnessing a softening of her animosity 
toward her, and eventually, to her great comfort, an appear- 
ance of reconciliation, and even of affectionate regard. 

But here she was not to dwell. She was given to un- 
derstand that this was not to be the place of her rest. 
During the remainder of her hfe she could scarcely be said 
indeed to have had a home. In the various places where, 
during her middle life, she made her temporary abode, and 
to which she believed herself led successively by Divine 
Providence, she was dihgent in laboring for the spiritual 
and temporal good of her fellow- creatures, generously ex- 
pending her ample means, and giving up her own personal 
ease indefatigably for that object. And she did this with- 
out taking credit to herself, or seeking praise of men — 
indeed often conceahng the hand that held forth the dona- 
tion — and acknowledged that all praise was due to Him 
alone whom she felt to be the true owner of all she had, 
while she herself was only the unworthy agent. In like 
manner, when she was made the means of spiritual good 
to others, of which there were many instances, she was 
careful to seek no honor to herself, but earnestly to avow 
that all the good was from the Almighty, and though it 
came through her as his handmaid, yet it was not of her, 
nor at her own command. 

Our limits will not permit more than a cursory view of 
this middle period of her pilgrimage, interesting though it 
would be to follow her in the detail she has given of her 
everyday life. Many remarkable occurrences of this period 
have been detailed in the beautiful portraiture given by 
her American biographer, Upham, and still more by her- 



362 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

self in her own account of lier life.* We must confine our- 
selves to what is necessary, to understand clearly the gen- 
eral course of her life, and to develope the gradual progress 
of those shameful and relentless persecutions which afflicted 
her latter years, and by which she was not only vilified with 
an extreme degree of baseness and malignity, but subjected 
to three solitary imprisonments ; once under bars and bolts 
in a convent, once in the Castle of Yincennes and then at 
Vaugirard, and once in that most terrible of all French 
prisons, the Bastile — these imprisonments occupying many 
years — and finally condemned to banishment to a distant 
part of France, where she ended her days. 

It was about the year 1680 that she felt a secret and 
often recurring impression that the Almighty had a work 
for her to do, away from her present home, in the neigh- 
borhood of Geneva. What this work was, she did not 
know ; but thither was the attraction. After long deliber- 
ation and many doubts, and hesitation on account of her 
young family, encouraged at length by several friends 
whom she privately consulted — (among whom was one 
who in after-years became very dear to her in the bonds of 
the gospel, and in the fellowship of deep suffering for his 
testimony to inward religion, viz., Francis de la Combe, a 
priest then residing at Thonon, about sixteen miles from 
Geneva) — she placed her two sons in charge of precept- 
ors, and taking her httle daughter with her, left Paris in 
the summer of 1681, for a period of several years. She 
seems simply to have gone forth in faith, in obedience to 
what she fully believed the Lord required of her, "not 
knowing whither she went," or what was to befall her in 
the way of His leadings. 

After her arrival in the neighborhood of the Jura 

-•■ "Vie. de Madame Guion, ecrite par ellemcme:" en trois volumes; a 
Cologne, 1720. 



JANE MARY GUION. 3^3 

Mountains, she resided sometimes at Gex, in a small com- 
munity called Isew Catholics, under the patronage of 
D'Aranthon, Bishop of Geneva; sometimes at Geneva 
itself for a short time; and sometimes at Thonon, where 
she placed her daughter. at a seminary under the immediate 
eye of her friend La Combe. 

At first she seems to have imagined that her duty in 
coming into that country might be in some way to draw 
back the Protestant population of Geneva to the Romish 
faith ; but this came to nothing. She then supposed it 
might be to help the poor and the sick ; and accordingly 
she employed herself in preparing medicines and plasters, 
dressing sores, nursing, etc. But she soon had reason to 
believe that she had been sent thither for a higher pur- 
pose ; and she found many opportunities of affording relig- 
ious instruction and comfort to those needing instrumental 
help. In pursuing this course, she failed not to endeavor, 
as she felt called upon, to instil those deep views of the in- 
ward work of true religion and the necessity of an inward 
impulse in true prayer, with which her own spirit had been 
so sweetly imbued. And it looks probable after all, that one 
of the objects of her being called into that part of the vine- 
yard may have been for the instruction and advancement 
of Francis La Combe in the way of life and salvation. It 
is at least evident that their frequent interviews during her 
tarriance were a means of leading him to a far clearer ap- 
preciation of the inward operations of the Holy Spirit, than 
he had before attained to. He had, in after-life, to suffer 
grievous calumnies and persecutix)ns for his adherence to 
his conscientious convictions in this respect, and eventually 
was subjected to an imprisonment of many years' dura- 
tion, terminating only with his life, after wearing out the 
powers of his mind. 

In a letter written by her to La Combe in 1683, referring 



364 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

to the storms which appeared to be gathering over them 
both, she uses the following remarkable and somewhat pro- 
phetic language: — ''There will be many crosses common 
to us both ; but you will observe that they will unite us 
more in God by an inviolable firmness to sustain all sorts 
of evils. It seems to me that God will give me many 

spiritual children — many children of grace You will 

have crosses and prisons which will separate us personally, 
but the union in God will be firm and inviolable. 

" I had last night a dream denoting strange overturnings, 
so that when I awoke, all my senses were moved by it. 
There will happen only what the Master wills. But the 
tempest growls long, and I know not what the thunder will 
be ; but it seems to me that all Hell will league itself to 
hinder the progress of the inward work, and the formation 
of Jesus Christ in souls. This tempest will be so strong, 
that but for great protection and faithfulness, scarcely could 
any withstand it. . . . It seems to me, it will cause agitation 
and doubt — and will be such as to leave not one stone upon 
another. All your friends will be scattered, and renounce 
you, and be ashamed of you ; so that scarcely shall one be 
left to you ; and such a succession of crosses and afflictions, 
and such strange confusions, as will utterly surprise you. . . . 
And as the children of God, who are inseparably .with Him, 
will be spread over all the earth, it must be that the prince 
of this world will shake all the earth with divisions, signs 
and miseries, which, the stronger they are, the nearer will 
peace approach. . . . I warn you to listen as little as possible 
to your reasonings and reflections. And I have a strong 
inward impression to tell you to keep this letter, and even 
to seal it with your hand, in order that when these things 
occur, you may see they have been foretold to you 

'*I know not what I am writing. Come, it is no time 
now for either you or me to be sick. Let us arise; for the 



JANE MARY GXJION. 365 

prince of this world cometh. In the same manner as, be- 
fore the coming of Christ, there were many killings of the 
prophets, many w^ars, and the Jewish people had been as 
it were brought to nothing ; so true piety, which is the in- 
ward worship, will be almost destroyed, and will be perse- 
cuted in the person of the prophets — that is to say — of 
those who have inculcated it. The desolation on the earth 
will be great. During this time, the Woman [the true 
church] will be full of this inward spirit ; and the Dragon 
will stand up before her, though without hurting her ; be- 
cause she is encircled by the Sun of righteousness, and has 
the moon, which is changeableness and inconstancy, under 
her feet ; and the divine virtues will serve for her crown. . . . 
But though she may suffer many terrible pains, so as to 
cry out for their vehemence, yet God will protect her off- 
spring, which will be hidden with Him until the day of its 
manifestation, until peace may be upon the earth. The 
woman will be in the wilderness without human aid, hid- 
den, and unknown ; there will be vomited against her rivers 
of calumny and persecution; but she shall be helped with 
the wings of the dove, and not touching the earth, the 
river will be swallowed up in it, while she will remain in- 
wardly free, so that she will fly as the dove, and will rest truly 
without fear, without care, and without sorrow. It is said 
that she will be nourished, not that she will nourish herself 
there. . . . God will take care for her, I pray God, if it be for 
his glory, to give you an understanding of these things." 

The spiritual views inculcated by Jane Mary Guion pro- 
duced a marked salutary effect in the neighborhood; but 
startled some as a novelty compared with the common 
teachings of the priests. Her faithful counsels to one of 
the female inmates of the institution at Gex, by which she 
was made instrumental in rescuing the young woman from 
the evil designs of a priest who was confessor there, raised 



366 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

a spirit of resentment in this man, who thenceforward de- 
termined to endeavor to drive her from the place, and her 
friend La Combe also He spared no pains to prejudice the 
inmates against her, and insinuated likewise ill feelings into 
the mind of the bishop, to that degree that a real persecu- 
tion soon arose, which never afterward ceased during her 
life. The bishop, finding that her pious counsels and ex- 
ample had gained many over as converts more or less to 
her spiritual views, and pressed by this corrupt ecclesiastic, 
endeavored at first to limit her influence, by urging her to 
accept the of&ce of Prioress of the institution at Gex, with 
the condition annexed, that she should make over to it all 
her available funds, and confine herself to its care alto- 
gether. This, though strongly urged by him, she could 
not by any means consent to, for she felt convinced that it 
was not the way in which her Divine Master designed her 
to walk. The bishop insisted on La Combe's using his 
influence to bring this about, and threatened to have him 
silenced and removed, unless he consented to induce her 
compliance ; but La Combe would have nothing to do with 
it, feeling convinced that her own judgment was adequate, 
and should be left to decide the question. The storm ac- 
cordingly gathered more and more strength against them 
both — the bishop became exasperated — and she found' she 
could not remain in that diocese. Not knowing whither 
to direct her steps, she concluded to pass into Italy, where 
she had a friend residing near Turin, the Marchioness de 
Prunai, who had invited her to spend some time with her. 
It was in the summer of 1684, after remaining near Ge- 
neva about three years, that she left Thonon, and passed 
through Chamberri and over Mount Cenis to the city of 
Turin ; an arduous and trying journey in those days, when 
the mountain passes had to be threaded by mules for the 
men, and the female travellers were carried on Utters. She 



JANE MARY GUION. 36t 

was hospitably received by her friend, and remained in 
Italy until the autumn; when she believed it best to return 
into France, by way of the ancient city of Grenoble, about 
one hundred miles northwest of Turin. She had a per- 
sonal friend in that city, but she took up her abode with a 
pious widow previously unknown to her, placing her daugh- 
ter under the care of a religious institution of the place, 
probably connected with a seminary for youth. She pur- 
posed a retired life ; but very soon after her arrival, to her 
surprise, she was visited by many religious individuals, 
and found herself called upon in an unusual manner to 
minister to their spiritual condition. She was brought into 
deep feeling for many of them in their respective besetments, 
trials, and weaknesses. She describes the qualification she 
now received as a divine gift, communicated to her in an 
incomprehensible manner for the discernment of spirits, and 
to enable her to express to each, that which was suitable 
for them. She compared it to being clothed with an apos- 
tolic condition, and says, " I discerned the state of the 
souls of those who spoke to me, with such facility that 
they were astonished, and said one to another, that I had 
given to each one that of which they respectively had need. 
It was thou, my Grod, who performed all these things !" 
Such was the succession of individuals of all classes who 
thus flocked to her for counsel, that she was often closely 
engaged in speaking of the things of God, from six o'clock 
in the morning until eight in the evening, and many mar- 
vellous changes were the result, through the Divine Grace 
which accompanied her labors. Some likewise came, she 
says, for the evil purpose of taking some advantage of her, 
or spying her out ; but without her knowing this, she found, 
to her subsequent surprise, that she had not a word to say 
to such, and when she would try to compel herself to speak 
to them, she found herself divinely restrained. Some of 



368 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

these, on returning to their own people, declared, "People 
are mad, to go to see that lady — she cannot speak." 
"Others treated me," she says, "like a brute. I knew not 
that they came as spies, but when they had gone away, 
some one came to me saying, 'I could not come soon 
enough to tell you not to say anything to those persons ; 
they came on the part of such and such an one, to spy you 
out and lay snares for you,' I replied, 'Our Lord has an- 
ticipated your kindness, for I could not say a word to 
them.' .... I felt that what I had to say was from the true 
source, and that I was but the instrument of Him who 
caused me to speak. During this general applause, our 
Lord made me sensible that this apostolic qualification with 
which he had honored me, and the resignation to help souls 
in purity of spirit, was likely to expose me to the most 
cruel persecutions." Here she was forcibly reminded that 
the multitude round our Saviour had sang, " Blessed is he 
that cometh in the name of the Lord," and yet this was very 
soon changed into, "Take him away, crucify" him !" She 
says, "One of my friends speaking of the general esteem 
which people had for me, I replied. Take notice of what I 
tell you to-day — that you will hear maledictions expressed 
by the same lips that now pronounce benedictions !" And 
she adds these instructive remarks: " Souls who are really 
employed by God as apostles, really sent with an apostolic 
qualification, have to suffer extremely. I speak not of those 
who put themselves forth as apostles, and who not being 
called of God in a singular manner, and having none of the 
graces of the apostleship, have likewise nothing of the cross 
of the apostleship ; but of those who resign themselves to 
God without reserve, and who desire with all their heart 
to be led or even tossed about without restriction by His 
providence ; ah, these will assuredly be ' a spectacle to God, 
and to angels, and to men' — to God, of glory, by conformity 



JANE MARY GUION. 369 

to Jesus Christ — to angels, of joy — and to men, of cruelty 
and ignominy." 

In speaking of the priests of a certain order, some of 
whom came to Grrenoble, she mentions an interesting oc- 
currence, which is said to have taken place at Dijon, a small 
town where she spent a day or two on her return to Paris. 
She says: "I have never in my life had such comfort, as 
in seeing in this little town so many good souls who gave 
themselves to God with all their heart. There were young 
girls of twelve or thirteen years old, who labored almost all 

day, in silence, in order to converse with Grod Being 

poor, they united together in pairs, and those who could 
read would read something to those who could not. It 
seemed as if the innocence of the first Christians was re- 
vived. There was a poor laundress, who had five children, 
and a paralytic husband, whose little remaining strength 
was only exerted in beating his wife. Yet this poor woman 
bore it all with the sweetness of an angel, and procured a 
maintenance for this man and her five children. This 
woman had a wonderful gift of prayer, and preserved her 
equanimity and a sense of God's presence, through the 
greatest miseries and in the most extreme poverty. There 
was also a pious tradeswoman, and a locksmith's wife — 
these three were friends together, and the two latter would 
read sometimes to this laundress, and were surprised to 
find that she was instructed by our Lord in all that they 
read to her, and could speak of those things in a divine 
manner. The priests (above mentioned) sought out this 
woman, and threatened her greatly if she did not cease 
praying, telling her that it was only for priests, and that it 
was very bold in her to attempt to pray. She replied to 
them (or rather He who instructed her, for she was of her- 
self quite ignorant), that our Lord had commanded all to 
pray, declaring, * I say it unto you all,' not specifying 



370 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

priests nor ecclesiastics; and she added, that without 
prayer, she could not support the crosses and poverty 
which were her lot; that she had once been without 
prayer, and that she was exceedingly wicked (un Demon) ; 
but since she had known what it was to pray to God, she 
had loved Him with all her heart; that thus to cease to 
pray, w^ould be to renounce her salvation, and she could not 
do it.' " The priests threatened that she should have no 
absolution till she promised to cease from praying; but she 
told them " that it depended not on herself; and that our 
Lord was the master, and it was his right to communicate 
with his creatures, and make of them whatsoever might 
please him." These priests collected together all the books 
that they could find in the place, which inculcated prayer, 
to the number of about three hundred, and burned them in 
the public square, being " much elated" with their achieve- 
ment. 

At Thonon also, she says, there were young women — 
poor village girls — who, with one accord, wishing to serve 
their Maker while they were gaining their living, assembled 
together at their needlework, and one would read from 
time to time, while the others worked. None would go out 
without asking permission of the oldest, and the strong 
contributed to the support of the weak. These poor girls 
were separated, as well as others in several villages, and 
were cast out from the church. 

A monk of the same order as those who burned her 
books at Dijon, was here greatly reached by what she said 
to him, and by the savor of her spirit as they communed 
silently before the Lord. She says, in reference to it, 
" Christ has declared, ' where two or three are gathered 
together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.' 
With the greatest certainty, through his blessed operation, 
is this experienced In proportion as this person's soul 



JANE MARY GUION. . 311 

advanced sufficiently for continuing in silence before God, 
and as the Word operated on him in silence, being vivid 
and fruitful, and not in a state of indolence as some igno- 
rantly imagine, he thereby grew in grace. Oh, immediate 
ineffable Word, who tellest us everything without articu- 
lating anything!" .... "How well I coniprehended in this 
silence, that in souls wholly the Lord's, his grace flows 
like a river ! This is that 'well of water springing up into 
everlasting life;' the great mystery which Christ spoke of 
and revealed to the Samaritan woman." .... " The water 
of life will flow from the sacred source into the souls of all 
those who have lived by grace, more or less as they are 
fitted or enlarged to receive of its abundance." She adds, 
that the Superior and the Master of the monks "were griev- 
ously chagrined that a woman, as they said, should be so 
much flocked to and sought after. For, looking at things 
as they were in themselves, and not as they were in God, 
who does whatever pleases Him, they had nothing but 
contempt for the gift w^iich was lodged in so mean an in- 
strument ; and instead of rightly estimating God and his 
grace, they attended to the meanness of the subject in 
which he was pleased to shed it." Yet she informs us that 
this Superior was himself eventually reached in his con- 
science, and "acknowledged the benefits they had received; 
and he became so fully convinced of her rectitude, that 
some time afterward he distributed many of the same books 
which his brethren had destroyed. 

In describing the manner in which she was often led, in 
her ministrations to various individuals at Grenoble, she 
says that some would ask her over again at different times 
the same questions, merely from a talkative disposition. 
To such she could not reply, and then it was made clear to 
her that no response was given to her because it would 
have been useless. There were others who, while under- 



372 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

going those mortifications by which the Lord was conduct- 
ing them to a death of self, came to her to seek human con- 
solation. She says, " For these I had only what was barely 
needful, after which I could say no more. I would rather 
have talked about indifferent things, being willing to be all 
things unto all, and to be disagreeable to none ; but as to 
the word of the Lord, He is himself the dispenser of it. 
Oh, if preachers would speak in the Spirit, what fruits 
would they not bring forth ! There were others, to whom, 
as I have said, I could communicate only in silence, but a 
silence as ineffable as it was efficacious — this is the com- 
munion of blessed spirits !'' 

Soon after mentioning these things, in speaking of the 
relation between John the Baptist and our Lord Jesus 
Christ, she says, "He [John] only baptized with water, to 
show what was his function — the water, in flowing off, 
leaves nothing behind it — it is only the Word, which im- 
presses itself. John was to introduce the Word, but he 
was not the Word ; and He who was the Word baptized 
with the Holy Spirit, because he had the power of impres- 
sion into souls, and communicating himself to them by the 
Holy Spirit." 

No wonder, if such doctrines were inculcated in her daily 
ministrations, so savoring of primitive Christianity revived, 
so calculated to shake from all false dependence on out- 
ward rites, that the adherents of formal religion took alarm, 
and a party was raised in Grenoble, as it had been around 
Geneva, to prevent, by calumniating the promulgator, the 
spread of such innovations upon the craft of the priests. 
But was the woman who could express herself thus, who, 
like King David (Ps. cxix. 99), saw so far beyond all her 
teachers, who received her instructions evidently from the 
heavenly Source of all true Wisdom, through the ''In- 
speaking Word," was this woman indeed a Papist ? Was 



JANE MARY GUION. 373 

she not a Protestant, unknown and unsuspected by her- 
self? Was not the Romish system, in her case, like the 
mere dead shell which binds and clogs the limbs of the 
chrj^salis, until its wings are sufficiently matured to be 
ready to expand, and enable it to soar aloft in its kindred 
element, the sunshine of perfect day ? 

Whether it was about this time or not, does not appear; 
but once, on the subject of simplicity of dress, she thus 
addressed one of her female friends : " W^hy do you make 
a difficulty of speaking to me about your dress ? Should 
you not be free, and tell me all ? You have done well in 
laying aside that superfluity. I entreat you never to wear 
it again. I am also sure that if you would hearken to that 
which speaks in the bottom of your heart, you would find 
more things to put off. For though we are not to make 
the putting off of such things the capital, yet it is neces- 
sary; and I am persuaded that in the disposition your hus- 
band is in at present, you will please him as well without 
those ornaments as with them. But nature will find some 
pretext to keep those things it hkes. However, a little 
sacrifice of this kind which you shall make to God, will 
often draw down His grace upon you; and He who has 
promised to recompense even a cup of cold water given for 
his sake, will' much more recompense the denial of yourself 
in a matter of dress. And I must tell you likewise, that 
it would draw down the blessings of Heaven upon your 
husband. 

''A Christian woman must be distinguished from others, 
not by an affected outside, nor by an untidy dress, but 
by a neat and modest exterior. You may wear clothes 
and linen suitable to your quality ; but I would put off all 
those superfluous ribbons; and I am sure you would be 
never the less pleasing in the eyes of your spouse, and 

11 



374 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

much more so in the eyes of Him whom you desire to 
please above all. 

"Never make any scruple or difficulty of writing plainly 
and nakedly as things are. Do not be afraid, in so doing, 
of lessening my esteem for you ; for it has a quite different 
effect, because I gather from that, that you have truly a 
mind to be given up to Grod, and that God is leading you ; 
since He makes you attentive and careful about things so 
small; and it is a good sign that He is at work at the bot- 
tom of your heart. Be faithful to him, I earnestly beseech 
you, and you will find a thousand times more satisfaction 
in listening to Him within, and in following His inspira- 
tions, than in all the foolish toys of the world, which can 
never give true satisfaction." 

It was about this time that she completed the manu- 
script of her celebrated little book, entitled "A Short 
Method of Prayer ;" a book which in after- years was made 
a plea for her most grievous persecutions. She had pre- 
viously, while at Thonon, written another small work, en- 
titled "Spiritual Torrents," comparing the religious life to 
a stream, in allusion to Amos, v. 24 — " Let judgment run 
down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream" — 
which, in the French and Latin translations to which she 
had access, is rendered "A mighty torrent." She now 
commenced writing her largest work, which was eventually 
published in twenty volumes 12mo., being Commentaries 
on the Bible — the Old Testament in twelve volumes, and 
the New in eight — a work which has probably never been 
translated into the English language, and is now very 
scarce in the French. In writing this book she had no 
doubt that she was divinely led and qualified. She says 
she used no other book in preparing it than the Bible itself, 
that the references made from the Old to the New, or from 
the New to the Old Testament, were not the result of study 



JANE MARY GUION. 375 

on her part, but were such as were immediately given to 
her at the tune; and that though, when she commenced at 
any time to write, she did not know at all what she was 
going to say, yet as soon as she had written any passage, 
the commentary was given her, without the least premedi- 
tation or study of her own ; and she was enabled to write 
down, with a quickness inconceivable to herself, things 
which before she was quite ignorant of. "All the faults in 
my writings," she says, "arise from this, that not being 
accustomed to the work of the Lord, I was often unfaithful 
in it, thinking it was well to continue to write when I had 
time for it, without having the inward motion for it — anx- 
ious to finish the work — so that it is easy to see places 
which are good and sustainable, and others which have 
neither taste nor unction. I have left them as they are 
(until directed otherwise by the light given me), that the 
difference may be seen between the Spirit of God and the 

natural human spirit." "I continued to write with 

wonderful rapidity. My hand could scarcely keep pace 
with the dictation of the spirit. The copyist, however dil- 
igent, could not copy in five days what I had written in a 
night. Whatever is good therein came from thee, my 
God, and whatever is bad is from myself, and of my own 
unfaithfulness, and of the mixture which I unconsciously 
made of my own impurity with thy pure and chaste doc- 
trine." 

Her " Short Method of Prayer" was not originally pub- 
lished by herself, but by one of her friends, a Counsellor of 
the Parliament, who saw it lying in manuscript on her 
table at Grenoble, borrowed it, lent it, and was so much 
pleased with it that he concluded to print it. Many thou- 
sands have since that time been spread abroad in the 
world, particularly in France, and have doubtless acted as 
a wholesome leaven, in promoting more spiritual views of 



376 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

this subject and of the nature of religion at large, among a 
people otherwise much held under the blighting influence 
of formality. It is not to be denied that there are portions 
of this work more or less tarnished by the imperfections of 
the prevalent form of religion ; but as a whole its tendency 
is eminently spiritual, as may be seen by the following 
extracts taken from various parts of the treatise: 

"For the attainment of salvation, it is absolutely neces- 
sary that we should forsake outward sin, and turn unto 
righteousness; but this alone is not perfect conversion, 
which consists in a total change of the whole man from an 
outward to an inward life." 

" We must urge it as a matter of the highest import, to 
cease from self-action and self-exertion, that God himself 
may act alone. He saith by the mouth of his prophet 
David, 'Be still, and know that I am God.'" 

" * The Lord is in his holy temple, let all the earth keep 
silence before Him.' Inward silence is absolutely indis- 
pensable, for The Word is essential and eternal, and neces- 
sarily requires dispositions in the soul in some degree cor- 
respondent to his nature, as a capacity for the reception of 
himself. Hearing is a sense formed to receive sounds, and 
is rather passive than active, admitting, but not communi- 
cating sensation ; and if we would hear, we must lend the 
ear for that purpose. So Christ the Eternal Word, with- 
out whose divine inspeaking the soul is dead, dark, and 
barren, when he would speak within us, requires the most 
silent attention to his all-quickening and efficacious voice." 

"When, through imbecility or unfaithfulness, we become 
dissipated, or as it were uncentred, it is of immediate im- 
portance to turn again gently and sweetly inward; and 
thus we may learn to preserve the spirit and unction of 
prayer throughout the day ; for if prayer and recollection 
were wholly confined to any appointed half-hour or hour, 
we should reap but little fruit." 



JANE MARY GUION. 37 T 

"A direct contest and struggle with distractions and 
temptations, rather serves to augment them, and with- 
draws the soul from that adherence to Grod, which should 
ever be its principal occupation. The surest and safest 
method of conquest is simply to turn away from the evil, 
and draw yet nearer and closer to our God. A little child, 
on perceiving a monster, does not wait to fight with it, and 
will scarcely turn its eyes toward it, but quickly shrinks 
into the bosom of its mother, in confidence of safety. So 
likewise should the soul turn from the dangers of tempta- 
tion to her Grod. 'God is in the midst of her,' saith the 
psalmist, 'she shall not be moved; God shall help her, and 
that right early.'" 

"St. Paul saith, 'If any man hath not the Spirit of 
Christ, he is none of His:' therefore, to be Christ's, we 
must be filled with his Spirit; and to be filled with his 
Spirit, we must be emptied of our own. The apostle, in 
the same passage, proves the necessity of this divine influ- 
ence or motion. 'As many,' saith he, 'as are led by the 
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.' The spirit of 
divine filiation is then the spirit of divine action or motion. 
He therefore adds, 'Ye have not received the spirit of 
bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of 
adoption, whereby ye cry, Abba, Father.' This spirit is no 
other than the Spirit of Christ, through which we partici- 
pate of his filiation; 'And this Spirit beareth witness with 
our spirit, that we are the children of God.' When the 
soul yields itself to the influence and motions of this blessed 
Spirit, it feels the testimony of its divine filiation ; and it 
feels also, with superadded joy, that it hath received, not 
the spirit of bondage, but of liberty, even 'the liberty of the 
children of God.' It then finds that it acteth freely and 
sweetly, though with vigor and infallibility. The spirit of 
divine action is so necessary in all things, that St. Paul, in 



318 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

the same passage, foundeth that necessity on our ignorance 
with respect to what we pray for. 'The Spirit,' saith he, 
'also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we 
should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh 
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be ut- 
tered.' This is positive. If we know not what we stand 
in need of, nor pray as we ought to do for those things 
which are necessary ; and if the Spirit which is in us, and 
to which we resign ourselves, asks and intercedes for us ; 
should we not give unlimited freedom to its action, to its 
ineffable groanings on our behalf? This Spirit is the Spirit 
of The Word, which is always heard, as He saith himself, 
'I know that thou hearest me always.' And if we freely 
admit this Spirit to pray and intercede for us, we also shall 
always be heard." 

"When the vessel is in port, the mariners are obliged to 
exert all their strength, that they may clear her thence and 
put to sea; but at length they turn her with facility as they 
please. In Hke manner, while the soul remains in sin and 
creaturely entanglements, very frequent and strenuous 
endeavors are requisite to effect her freedom; the cords 
which withhold her must be loosed ; and then by strong 
and vigorous efforts she gathers herself inward, pushing off 
gradually from her old port; and in leaving that at a dis- 
tance, she proceeds to the interior, the haven to which she 

wishes to steer The further she departs from the old 

harbor, the less difficulty and labor is requisite in moving 
her forward. At length she begins to get sweetly under 
sail, and now proceeds so swiftly on her course that the oar, 
which has become useless, is laid aside. How is the mar- 
iner now engaged? He is content with spreading the sails 
and holding the rudder. To spread the sails, is to lay one's 
self before Grod in the praj^er of simple exposition, that we 
may be acted upon by His Spirit. To hold the rudder, is 



JANE MARY GUION. 379 

to restrain our heart from wandering from the true course, 
recalling it gently, and guiding it steadily to the dictates 
of the Blessed Spirit, which gradually gain possession and 
dominion of the heart, just as the wind by degrees fills the 
sails and impels the vessel. While the winds are fair, the 
mariners rest from their labors, and the vessel glides rap- 
idly along without their toil. And when they thus repose, 
and leave the vessel to the wind, they make more way in 
one hour than they had done in a length of time by all 
their former efforts. Were they even now to attempt using 
the oar, they would not onlv fatigue themselves, but retard 
the vessel by their ill-timed labors. This is the manner of 
acting we should pursue interiorly. It will indeed advance 
us in a very short time, by the divine impulsion, infinitely 
further than a whole life spent in reiterated acts of self- 
exertion If the wind be contrary and blow a storm, 

we must cast anchor to withhold the vessel. Our anchor 
is a firm confidence and hope in God, waiting patiently the 
calming of the tempest and the return of a more favorable 
gale ; as David ' waited patiently for the Lord, and He in- 
clined unto him and heard his cry.' We must, therefore, 
be resigned to the Spirit of God, giving up ourselves 
wholly to His divine guidance." 

"Few and transient fruits must attend that [ministerial] 
labor which is confined to outward matters ; such as bur- 
dening the disciple with a thousand precepts for external 
exercises; instead of leaving the soul to Christ by the occu- 
pation of the heart in him. If ministers were solicitous 
thus to instruct their parishioners, shepherds while watch- 
ing their flocks might have the spirit of the primitive Chris- 
tians, and the husbandman at the plough might maintain a 
blessed intercourse with his God ; the manufacturer, while 
he exhausts his outward man with labor, would.be renewed 
in internal strength ; every species of vice would shortly 



380 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

disappear, and every parishioner might become a true fol- 
lower of the Good Shepherd." 

"The Spirit of God needs none of our arrangements 
and methods. When it pleaseth Him, he turns shep- 
herds into prophets ; and, so far from excluding any from 
the temple of prayer, he throws wide the gates, that all 
may enter ; while Wisdom cries aloud in the highways, 
'Whoso is simple let him turn in hither,' and to the fools 
she saith, ' Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine 
which I have mingled.' And doth not Jesus Christ him- 
self thank his Father for having 'hid' the secrets of his 
kingdom 'from the wise and prudent, and revealed them 
unto babes' ?" 

"Divine justice and wisdom, as an unremitting fire, 
must devour and destroy all that is earthly, sensual, and 
carnal, and all self-activity, before the soul can be fitted 
for, and capable of union with God. T^ow, this purifica- 
tion can never be accomplished by the industry of fallen 
man. On the contrary, he submits to it always with re- 
luctance ; lie is so enamored of self, and so averse to its 
destruction, that did not God act on him powerfully and 
with authority, he would forever resist." 

"Would you not say that he had lost his senses, who 
having undertaken an important journey, should fix his 
abode at the first inn, because he had been told that many 
travellers who had come that way had lodged in the house 
and made it their place of residence ? All that we should 
wish then is, that souls should 'press toward the mark,' 
should pursue their journey, and take the shortest and 
easiest road; not stopping at the first stage, but, following 
the counsel and example of St. Paul, suffer themselves to 
be guided and governed by the Spirit of Grace; which 
would infallibly conduct them to the end of their creation, 
the enjoyment of God. But while we confess, that the en- 



JANE MARY GUION. 381 

joyment of God is the end for which we were created ; that 
'without holiness' none can attain it; and that to attain it 
we must necessarily pass through a severe and purifying 
process ; how strange it is, that we should dread and avoid 
this process, as if that could be the cause of evil and imper- 
fection in the present life, which is to be productive of 
glory and blessedness in the life to come !" 

"Some say that we should not attempt, Uy our own 
ability, to place ourselves in this state [of union with 
God]. I grant it. But what a poor subterfuge is this ! — 
since I have all along asserted and proved, that the utmost 
exertion of the highest created being could never accom- 
plish this of itself; it is God alon.e must do it. The crea- 
ture may indeed open the window ; but it is the Sun him- 
self, that must give the light." 

" Oh, ye blind and foolish men, who pride yourselves on 
science, wisdom, wit, and power, how well do you verify 
what God hath said, that his secrets are hidden from the 
wise and prudent,, and revealed unto the little ones — the 
babes !" 

Fifteen hundred copies of this little book were taken at 
Grenoble very soon after it was printed, and five or six 
editions were subsequently published during her life, not- 
withstanding the calumnies and opposition of the priests. 

During her residence at Grenoble, Jane Mary Guion 
made a visit to the celebrated Carthusian monastery of La 
Grande Chartreuse, situated among the mountains about 
eight miles from that city. She makes no mention of it in 
her own very minute account of her life ; which seems singu- 
lar ; as, from the objection which she says she had to visit- 
ing such places unless required to do so, it may be sup- 
posed that she did not go thither from any other motive 
than an impression of religious duty. Though the distance 
from Grenoble was not great, yet the journey must have 

It* 



882 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

been attended with considerable fatigue and risk, from the 
recluseness of the spot among precipitous and snow-clad 
mountains. Upham gives the following description of the 
ascent to it, taken principally from an account given by 
Claude Lancelot, of a Tour to this place and Alet: 

"As the traveller approaches the Grande Chartreuse, he 
emerges from a long and gloomy forest, which is abruptly 
terminated" by immense mountains that rise before him. 
The pass, through which the. ascent of the mountains is 
commenced, winds through stupendous granite rocks, which 
overhang from above. At the end of this terrific defile, 
the road is crossed by a romantic mountain torrent, over 
which is a rude stone bridge. The road no sooner leaves 
the bridge than it turns suddenly in another direction, and 
thus presents at once before the traveller a lofty mountain, 
on the flattened summit of w^hich the Carthusian mon- 
astery is situated, enclosed on either side by other moun- 
tain peaks still more elevated, whose tops are whitened 
with perpetual snows. 'No sooner is the defile passed,' 
says Lancelot, 'than nothing w^hich possesses either ani- 
mal or vegetable life is seen. No huntsman winds his 
horn in these dreary solitudes; no shepherd's pipe is al- 
lowed to disturb the deep repose. It is not permitted to 
the mountaineers ever to lead their flocks , beyond the 
entrance of the defile ; and even beasts of prey seem to 
shrink back from that dreaded pass, and instinctively to 
keep away from a desert which furnishes neither subsist- 
ence nor covert. Nothing, as we passed upward, met the 
eye, but tremendous precipices and huge fragments of rock, 
diversified with glaciers in every possible fantastic form. 
Sometimes the rocks overhung us till they formed a com- 
plete arch over our heads, and rendered the path so dark 
that we could scarcely see to pick our way. Once we had 
to pass over a narrow pine plank which shook at every 



JANE MARY GUION. 383 

step. This was placed by way of bridge over a yawning 
chasm, which every moment threatened to engulf the trav- 
eller. We often passed close by the side of abysses so 
profound as to be totally lost in darkness ; while the awful 
roaring of the waters, struggling in their cavities, shook 
the very rocks on which we trod.' From the bridge at 
the termination of the defile, to the level opening on the 
top of the mountain where the monastery is situated, the 
ascent is a little more than two miles. The monastery 
itself is a very striking object, from its massive strength 
and high antiquity. Although correctly described as situ- 
ated on the summit, it is nevertheless enclosed on two 
sides by stupendous rocks and peaks of still greater 
height, which reach far above the clouds, and almost shut 
out the light of the sun." 

All that is known of the visit of J. M. Guion to this wild 
retreat of some forty monks, is from the account given of 
it by the Prior of the institution in his Life of D'Aranthon, 
Bishop of Geneva. He says, as quoted by Upham: "Some 
six or seven years ago, Madame Guion left the city of 
Grenoble, and found her way upward to our solitary home 
in the rocks. Although contrary to our usual custom [to 
admit females into the monastery], I thought it an occa- 
sion on which I might be excused for conversing with this 
lady. I took with me, however; a number of the brethren, 
who might be witnesses of what passed between us. And 
they will now bear me testimony that, after the conversa- 
tion, and when Madame Guion had left us, I immediately 
expressed my suspicions in very strong terms, of the sound- 
ness of her views." 

We have no information what the views were which she 
felt it her duty to spread before these monks; but if they 
were such as we have just seen to characterize the pages of 
her work on prayer, we caimot wonder that they were un- 



384 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

palatable to the Prior of this celebrated monastery, how- 
ever conformable they were to primitive Christianity. He 
soon became fixedly hostile to her, and joined his efforts to 
those of Bishop D'Aranthon, to lay obstacles in her path, 
and raise a party at Grenoble to oppose and persecute her. 

While she was in Grenoble, she Was as usual constantly 
concerned for the help of the poor and sick, and was in- 
strumental in the founding of a hospital near the city. But 
the storm which had been for some time gathering against 
her, at length attained such a height, that she concluded, 
with the advice of some of her friends, to leave the place, 
at least for a time. She went first to Marseilles, where she 
met with some remarkable circumstances, which seemed to 
her like seals of the rectitude of her apostolic labors ; 
and having some time previously been pressingly invited 
to revisit her friend, the Marchioness de Prunai, she passed 
on for Italy. In her voyage from Nice to Genoa, which 
was with a wicked crew in a ver}^ small and inadequate 
vessel for the open sea, a storm arising, she had a narrow 
escape from death ; but was preserved in great calmness of 
mind, and even more than a willingness to end her days in 
the waves of the ocean, if such were the will of God, feel- 
ing ail the world against her, and no refuge nor comfort 
but in the Saviour whose love she experienced in her soul. 

In proceeding afterward by land, she had to pass through 
a forest infested by robbers, four of whom, armed, stopped 
the litter in which she travelled, and looked in upon her. 
She says : " I nodded and smiled, for I had no fear, and 
was resigned to Providence to that degree that it was in- 
different to me whether to die in this manner or some other, 
whether by the sea, or by the hands of robbers. But, O 
my God, how great has been thy protecting care over me ! 
And what was my state of resignation in thy hand ! How 
many perils have I encountered on the mountains and on 



JANE MARY GUION. 385 

the brinks of precipices ! How many times have I thought 
I was being plunged from those frightful mountains into 
dreadful torrents of a depth beyond sight, but which made 
themselves heard by their fearful noise ! When the danger 
was the most imminent, my faith was the strongest — all 
was equal to me, in thy will ! . . . . The robbers came to the 
titter, but I had no sooner saluted them, than the Almighty 
changed their design, and they gave each other hints not 
to hurt me. They saluted me very civilly, and retired with 
an air of compassion little common among such people." 

After this, the muleteer who conducted them, considering 
that he had in his charge only three lonely women, herself 
and two girls who attended on her, thought to put an af- 
front on her, with the purpose, as she believed, of extract- 
ing money from her. Toward night he stopped at a mill 
in a lonely place, nearly a mile from the inn to which they 
should have been carried — a place where there was only 
one room for all to sleep in, millera, muleteers, travellers, 
and every one else — and declared he would go no further. 
In vain did she protest to him that she was not such a per- 
son as to submit to such lodgings. Finding he was not to 
be turned from his purpose, she and the two girls took up 
such portion of their baggage as they could carry, and pro- 
ceeded on foot, in the midst of the darkness of night, un- 
acquainted with the road, and through one end of the 
infested forest, and even followed by the sneers and insults 
of this evil-designing man ; but they were favored to ar- 
rive safely at the inn. 

Contrary to her own desire, she was compelled to go to 
Yercelli, instead of proceeding directly to Turin, which 
caused her some trial of mind, and occasioned also some 
uneasiness to Fras. La Combe, who was then stationed at 
Yercelli ; for they were not ignorant of the slanderous and 
groundless reports which had been spread in France, that 



386 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

she was encouraging an unbecoming intimacy with him, 
though the fellowship mutually felt between them was in 
fact easily seen by unbiassed eyes to be of a purely reli- 
gious nature, from a close similarity of experience and 
oneness of inward feeling and views. She was, however, 
very kindly received by the Bishop of Yercelli, who was 
anxious to retain her there, and even offered to found a re- 
ligious house in the place, if she would consent to remain 
to superintend it. Bnt she sa3^s she was inwardl}^ sensible 
that this was not what the Almighty's will was for her to 
be engaged in. She was confined here for some time by 
fatigue and sickness, after which she pursued her plan of 
visiting her friend near Turin. 

After a short visit to the Marchioness de Prunai, she be- 
lieved it best to return into France, through Chamberri and 
Grenoble. Throughout her journey she says she was 
deeply impressed with the words of the apostle Paul when 
going up to Jerusal(?m, that the Holy Ghost testified to 
him " that bonds and afflictions awaited him ;" and she was 
favored with calm resignation, under the full belief that 
this would be her own portion in returning to her native 
land. It happened that Fras. La Combe had at this time 
been directed to repair to Paris, to take a position of some 
importance to the Order to which he belonged ; and as 
the Order was poor, and it seemed likely that his travelling 
as her escort would save some of the expenses of his 
jonrne}^, he was requested to accompany her. This he did 
as far as Chamberri, where he obtained permission to leave 
her, in order to visit his relations at Thonon before pro- 
ceeding to Paris. This journey proved to be, both to him 
and J. M. Guion, a progress into increased trials and per- 
secutions. These were in part instigated by her own half- 
brother, the Abbe La Mothe, a priest of the same Order as 
Fras. La Combe, who happened to meet them at Cham- 



I 



JANE MARY GUION. 381 

berri, and whose secret hostility (of which they were both 
of them convinced by their inward feelings) w^as then 
studiously concealed under professions of kindness and 
esteem. 

She proceeded to Grenoble, where she rejoined her 
daughter, whom she had left in charge of a religious insti- 
tution in that city. The excitement against her here seemed 
to have been allayed during her absence, and she was very 
cordially received by Bishop Camus, and by many of her 
former friends. But after a short tarriance she thought it 
best to proceed to Paris. She arrived in that city in the 
summer of 1686, just five years after her departure from it. 

Scarcely had she returned to Paris, when she clearly dis- 
covered the evil designs of her half-brother La Mothe, who 
secretly combined with others to injure both herself and La 
Combe. Indeed her brother from this time seemed to her 
to take the lead in all the insidious attacks that were made 
upon her. This was instigated partly by a desire to ex- 
tract from her that portion of her estate which she had not 
hitherto either appropriated to her children or distributed 
for charitable uses. His hostility against La Combe arose 
partly from jealousy of his success as a preacher, and partly 
from disappointment in finding that the latter would not 
suffer himself to be made a tool, to persuade Jane Mary 
Guion to transfer to him a small sum of money, which she 
had appropriated to the assistance of a poor but talented 
and religious young woman, who stood greatly in need of 
protection and help. La Mothe and his colleagues descended 
so far as to employ a wicked woman and her husband, who 
were ready for any malicious business which they could 
accomplish with impunity. The man was a skilful counter- 
feiter of writing, and the woman was no less skilful in 
counterfeiting the character of a devout person, to win the 
confidence of the unsuspecting. Among these was F. La 



388 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

Combe, to whom she went to confess, and whom she per- 
suaded to believe that she was a true saint. While J. M. 
Guion was on a visit to the Duchess of Chevreuse in the 
country, along with certain other religious persons of kin- 
dred feelings, La Combe wrote to her respecting this insinu- 
ating woman, in terms that led her to fear that he was be- 
ing imposed upon. She felt an inward conviction that she 
was a dangerous person. '' Nevertheless," she says, " as our 
Lord gave me nothing in particular in regard to it, and as 
I then apprehended that if I said anything of my thoughts 
it might not be well taken, and as the Lord did not impress 
it upon me to say anything (for if he had exacted it of me 
I would have done it, whatever it might have cost me) — • 
but as he left me at rest, I merely replied that I left him to 
Grod in that matter, as in everything else." While La 
Combe was being thus deceived by her, this woman and 
her husband were employed in forging and circulating pa- 
pers calculated to convey the belief that La Combe was not 
sound in the faith, and that he and J. M. Guion were un- 
duly intimate. They invented some vile calumnies of this 
sort against them in a forged letter which they got up, pre- 
tending to come from a person of Marseilles, containing 
scandalous stories of what, they said, occurred while they 
were in that city together. These gross falsehoods, how- 
ever, they were easily able to disprove, especially as La 
Combe had never been near Marseilles. We cannot here 
enter into a detail of all the plots which were formed to 
entrap and to destroy the reputation of these two worthy 
and pious persons. These plots were participated in by 
many ecclesiastics, and ended only when the object was 
attained, of indefinite imprisonment. 

Being fully convinced herself that this woman was a 
wicked and dangerous character, she avoided as much as 
possible her repeated importunities for access to her, and 



JANE MARY GUION. 389 

endeavored to warn her friend of his danger in putting con- 
fidence in her; but he would not, for a long time, believe 
but that she was indeed a saint Meantime these calumnies 
were spread abroad with great success. At length, how- 
ever, La Combe's eyes were opened to perceive her decep- 
tion and wickedness. Their enemies now, foiled in their 
attempts to substantiate their falsehood, endeavored to per- 
suade them to leave Paris, with a view to circulating the 
report that, now they had fled, there could no longer be any 
doubt of their guilt. J. M. Gruion relates that her half- 
brother La Mothe summoned her to him, along with La 
Combe, and said to her in the presence of the latter, " My 
sister, it is necessary for you to think of flying, for there 
are execrable statements against you. They say you have 
committed crimes which would make one shudder." She 
was not moved at all by what he said, but replied with her 
ordinary tranquillity, "If I have committed the crimes of 
which you speak, I could not be too severely punished. I 
am therefore far from being willing to fly ; for if, after hav- 
ing made profession all m}^ Kfe of a particular devotion to 
my Maker, I should make use of [an appearance of] piety 
to commit offenses against Him whom I would love and 
cause to be loved at the expense of my life, I ought to be 
made an example, and to be punished with the most ex- 
treme rigor. If I am innocent, flight is not the way to make 
my innocence believed." La Mothe knew this as well as 
she, but it was for that very reason that he desired to in- 
duce her to fly. He then endeavored to induce the tutor 
of her children to use his influence to bring it about. But 
not being able at once to see him, he applied to his sister, 
charging J. M. Guion with fearful crimes. In astonishment 
she replied, "If Madame Guion has committed such crimes 
as you say, I should believe that I had committed them 
myself! What! One who has lived as she has lived ! I 



390 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

would answer for her, body for body. As to making her 
fly, flight is by no means a matter of indifference to her ; 
for if she is innocent, it would be declaring herself guilty." 
La Mothe still urged, ''that she must absolutely be made 
to fly — that this was the wish of the archbishop." At the 
naming of the archbishop, she said she would see her 
brother the tutor on the subject, and have the archbishop 
spoken to about it; which alarmed La Mothe and put him 
into great confusion. The tutor, who was a Parliamentary 
Counsellor, went to the archbishop, although earnestly dis- 
suaded from it by La Mothe, and told him of the terrible 
crimes alleged against J. M. Guion, and that it was said 
that he (the prelate) had counselled that she should fly; 
adding that he had long known her as a virtuous woman, 
and that he would answer for her, body for body — that he 
would plead, her cause if anything was brought against 
her. The archbishop declared that he knew nothing at all 
of it, and that the thing was false ; and causing La Mothe 
to be called in, he repeated before him that he had never 
heard of the matter, and confounded him still further by- 
demanding the source of his information. 

The enemies of La Combe now applied to the king 
(Louis Xiy.), and managing to persuade him that the 
former was a friend of Michael de Molinos, and of danger- 
ous views, obtained a royal order that he should confine 
himself to his monastery, until he had been officially ex- 
amined concerning his doctrines. But they insidiously 
concealed this order from him, in order that by finding him 
abroad, they might accuse him of rebelling against the 
king's command. Meanwhile, La Combe, not knowing 
anything of the order, preached two remarkable sermons in 
different places of worship, which aroused all who heard 
them. He was also induced to go abroad to administer 
comfort to a young woman dying from an accident, who 



JANE MARY GUION. 391 

was one of bis penitents. Scarcely had he gone out, when 
one of them went and reported to the authorities, that he 
had not found him at the monastery, and that he was re- 
belling against the royal order. This treatment was several 
times repeated, under various pleas, and report made ac- 
cordingly of his disobedience. 

He had, some time before this, when persecuted by the 
Bishop of Geneva, betaken himself to Rome, and there 
appealed in person so effectually on his own behalf, as to 
obtain very satisfactor}^ testimonials of his orthodoxy from 
the Inquisition, and from the cardinals and " Congregation 
of Rites" in that city. These papers were now very im- 
portant to him ; but La Mothe, finding them to stand in his 
way, determined to procure possession of them. Still in- 
sidiously professing friendship for him, he said to him, that 
having such testimonials as these from such a source, 
ought to secure him against being found fault with by sub- 
ordinate offtcers of the church. La Combe, still thinking 
that La Mothe was his friend, was easily persuaded to put 
the papers into his hands ; and, as might have been antici- 
pated, he never saw them again. One subterfuge or another 
was made, to explain their not being returned to him. J. 
M. Guion happened to have copies. Finding that to be so, 
La Mothe, by false pretenses, obtained them from her, and 
would never return them, making dreadfully false, assertions 
that she had never given them to him. 

A few days after the loss of his papers. La Combe was 
arrested while at dinner, and under the most grossly false 
pretenses, was, without any trial, committed to the Bas- 
tile. This was in 168Y. J. M. Guion adds that, "As his 
enemies learned that in the first fortress the captains es- 
teemed him, and treated him rather mildly, not content 
with having shut up so eminent a servant of God, they 
caused him to be put into a place where they believed he 



392 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 



would have more to suffer. The Lord, who sees every- 
thing, will render to every one according to his works. I 
am satisfied from my inward feelings, that he is very con- 
tent and resigned to God." 

Having got him out of the way, the persecution was 
now concentrated against J. M. Guion herself ; who says, 
nevertheless, " I bore all with great tranquillity, without 
anxiety to justify or defend myself, leaving it to my God 
to order all concerning me as it might please him. Hfe in- 
creased my peace according as Father La Mothe continued 
to decry me. I cannot express how great was my inward 
content, leaving myself to the Lord without reserve, entirely 
ready to endure extreme sufferings, or punishment, if that 
should be His will. " 

Soon after this, she was put in possession of ample and 
clear evidence of the abandoned wickedness of the woman 
who had been employed against La Combe, and offered to 
her half-brother La Mothe the means of readily proving 
her crimes and La Combe's innocence ; but he would not 
listen to anything of the kind. They now accused her to 
the king, as a heretic, and a correspondent of Molinos 
(though she says she had no knowledge whatever of him, 
except through the Gazette) ; that she had written a dan- 
gerous book, and needed to be closely confined; and they 
forged a letter in her name, in order to show to the king 
that she was still holding meetings with great and secret 
designs. On this a royal order was issued for her imprison- 
ment in a convent. She was taken very ill about this time, 
which delayed the execution of the order for about five 
weeks; but before she quite recovered, about the beginning 
of the year 1688, she was arrested by a lettre de cachet, 
which consigned her to the " Convent of the Visitation" 
at the '' Faubourg S. Antoine." She had hoped that they 
would at least allow her the consolation of havino: with her 



m 



JANE MARY GUION. 393 

her daughter, now nearly twelve years old ; but this was 
denied. She was to be entirely alone, except a woman who 
at times waited on her; and not only so, but they inter- 
dicted all manner of communication between the mother 
and daughter. No one else, but this woman, was to come 
into her little room, which was kept closely locked. And 
this woman made all the mischief in her power, by false 
representations of her conversation and conduct. She says, 
"I had need for the exercise of patience, and the Lord suf- 
fered it not to escape from me." She was treated with 
great injustice while in this confinement. Several times 
she was subjected to ensnaring interrogations, and another 
forged letter, purporting to be from her, was produced, by 
which they endeavored to alarm her into a confession of 
guilt. When she denied the authorship of the letter, and 
showed that it was in a handwriting altogether different 
from her own, they alleged that it was a copy, and that 
they had the original at home ; but they would never pro- 
duce the original. She continued to deny the authorship 
of the letter, or even any knowledge of the person to whom 
it was addressed ; and offered the clearest proof of its being 
fictitious, but to no purpose. Her continued imprisonment 
was a thing determined on, and she was kept still more 
strictly locked up. A cousin of hers at length ventured to 
request the Marchioness de Maintenon, who was in fact 
wife to Louis XIY., to intercede with the monarch on her 
behalf; but she found him very much prejudiced against 
her by what La Mothe had said. Eventually, however, 
he granted an order for her discharge, and she was set at 
liberty, after a confinement, for no crime, of nearly eight 
months. 

A few days after her liberation, she first became ac- 
quainted with the Abbe de Fenelon, soon afterward ap- 
pointed to the Ducal Archbishopric of Cambray. She felt 



394 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS, 

a remarkable attraction to this amiable and eminent man; 
and having several interviews with him, found his mind 
open to appreciate, to a great extent, her spiritual views. 
From this time she reckoned him among those with whom 
she had the comfort of rehgious fellowship and union. 
How far this fellowship was indeed reciprocal, how far it 
may have extended on his part beyond a mere conviction 
of his understanding, of the truth of her doctrine, and an 
admiration of her innocent and pious life, in consonance 
with his own views of a truly Christian character, may be 
a matter of some question. There is no doubt that he did, 
for a time at least, seek and enjoy her company and con- 
versation, and was deeply impressed with a piety which 
carried its own evidence to his finest feelings; and he has 
generally been regarded as, through life, pre-eminently one 
with her in the advocacy of the "interior spiritual life." 
Yet it is evident, from his own words, which are to be 
found in Bishop Bausset's Memoir of his Life, that Fenelon 
was by no means prepared to suffer persecution on her ac- 
count, or for the cause which she maintained so firmly; or 
to lose his position in ecclesiastical and courtly society, by 
coming out openly in defense of a woman, of whose inno- 
cence he was nevertheless clearly convinced. T. C. IJpham, 
in his biography of Jane Mary Guion, says respecting Fen- 
elon, that " the principles of the inward life, which he had 
learned from the conversations and correspondence of 
Madame Guion, commended themselves entirely to the 

mind of Fenelon." "These important views, which 

strike so deeply at the life of nature — were new to him in 
a considerable degree, until he learned them in his ac- 
quaintance and correspondence" with her. She herself 
remarks, as Upham informs us, that she was enabled so 
fully to explain everything to Fenelon, that he gradually 
entered into the views which the Lord had led her to en- 



JANE MARY GUION. 395 

tertain, and gave them his unqualified assent; and that the 
persecutions which he afterward suffered were an evidence 
of the sincerity of his belief. Upham also says that Fen- 
elon w^as known to be ''too conscientious, either to abandon 
his position, or to be unfaithful in defending it, without a 
change in his convictions. Naturally mild and forbearing 
in his dispositions, he was inflexible in his principles," and 
that " he felt himself morally bound to defend the ground 
he had taken, although he had no disposition to do it other- 
wise than in the spirit of humility and candor." This was 
eminently evinced in his controversy with Bossuet, respect- 
ing the doctrines of spiritual religion advanced by him. 
That he was also averse to all persecution for religious be- 
lief, is well known. He said on one occasion, "No human 
power can force the impenetrable bulwarks of the liberty of 
the heart. Force never can persuade men ; it only makes 
hypocrites of them."* And when the religious house of 
Port Royal was destroyed in lt09, " Feuelon could not 
(says Bausset, vol. ii. p. 90) avoid raising his voice against 
the proceeding, in a letter to the Duke de Chevreuse, and 
regretting that other measures, of a more conciliatory and 
gentle nature, had not been adopted." That Fenelon par- 
ticipated in the spiritual views of religion advocated by J. 
M. Guion, may be clearly seen in many of his writings, 
especially in his controversy with Bossuet, and in the fol- 
lowing scattered extracts. f 

"By Scripture it is certain that the Spirit of Grod dwells 
in us, that it acts there, that it prays there ; that it groans 
there, that it desires there, that it asketh for us what we 
know not to ask for ourselves; that it excites us, animates 
us, speaks to us in silence, suggests all truth to us, and so 
unites us to itself that we become one spirit with God. 

*" Bausset's Life of Fenelon, vol. ii. p. 53. 
f See "CEuvres Spirititelles," tome i. 



396 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

This is what Scripture teaches us. This is what the doc- 
tors or teachers, who are furthest off from the inward life, 
cannot but acknowledge. And yet, notwithstanding these 
positive principles, we always see by their practice that 
they suppose the outward written law, or at most a light 
drawn from Scripture and reasoning, to be what enlightens 
us inwardly, and that it is our reason afterward which acts 
of itself by that instruction. These men set not enough 
by the Inward Teacher, the Holy Spirit, who does all in 
us. He is the soul of our soul. We cannot frame a [holy] 

thought or desire but through Him." ''Perhaps you 

will say to me, 'What! then, are we inspired V Yes, with- 
out doubt. But not as the prophets and apostles [proba- 
bly meaning, not according to their measure]. Without 
the actual inspiration of the Spirit of Grace, we can neither 

do, will, nor believe, any good." "We must silence 

every creature, and ourselves too, to hear in a profound 
stillness of soul the inexpressible voice of Christ, the bride- 
groom of our souls. We must listen diligently ; for it is a 
very still and soft voice, which is not to be heard but by 
such as hearken to .nothing else. Oh, how seldom it is 
that the soul is silent enough to let God speak I The least 
whisper of our vain desires, or of self-love, attentive to 
itself, confounds all the words of the Spirit of God — we do 

not perceive what it is." "To what purpose would 

the outward expressions of teachers be, and even of the 
Scriptures themselves, were it not for the Inward Yoice of 
the Holy Spirit, which gives the other all its efficacy ? The 
outward words, without this living efficacious Word within, 
would be but an empty sound. ' It is the letter that killeth, 
but the Spirit giveth life' (II. Cor. iii. 16). Oh, eternal and 
all-powerful Word of the Father, it is thou who speakest 
in the very bottom of souls !".... "It is not the exterior 
law or rule of the gospel, which God lets us see by the 



JANE MARY GUION. 391 

light of reason and Scripture; it is His Spirit, that speaks, 
that touches us, that operates in us, and that animates us; 
so that it is the Spirit that ' worketh in us, both to will and 
to do' what is good; as it is our soul that animates our 
body, and regulates its motions. It is certain, therefore, 
that we are' inspired continuall}^, and that we live not the 
life of grace, but in proportion as we partake of this inward 

inspiration." "I have often remarked that persons 

of small natural parts and understanding, when they begin 
to be made sensible of their sins, and livingly touched with 
the love of God, are more disposed to hear this inward lan- 
guage of the Spirit than some enlightened and learned per- 
sons grown old in their own wisdom " "God sees 

these simple ones, and it is in them he loves to dwell. 'My 
Father and I,' says Jesus Christ, 'we will come unto them, 
and make our abode with them.' Oh, how does a soul, 
given up entirely to the Spirit of God, esteeming itself as 
nothing,'and directed wholly by pure love; I say, how does 
that soul taste of the love and goodness of God, which the 
wise of this world can neither experience n'or comprehend. 
I have myself been wise, I may venture to say, as well as 
others. But then, imagining that I saw everything, I saw 
nothing. I went groping by a chain of reasons, but the 
Light shined not in my darkness. I satisfied myself with 
reasoning. But Avhen once we come to silence everything 
in us in order to hear God, we know all things without 
knowing anything, and we plainly see that we were before 
ignorant of those things which we thought we understood. 
.... Not that we have the presumption to believe that we 
possess in ourselves all truth and knowledge. No, no, 
quite the contrary — we then feel that we of ourselves see 

nothing, that we can do nothing, and are nothing." 

"But in this entire resignation of all without reserve, we 
find from time to time, in the immensity of God, all that 

18 



398 REFORMERS AND MARTYRg. 

we stand in need of, in the course of his providence. It is 
there that we find the daily bread of Truth, as well as 
everything else, without making provision. It is there 
'the Anointing teacheth us all truth,' by taking from us all 
our own wisdom, our own glor}^, our own interest, our own 
wills" .... "in this state the Spirit teaches us all truth; 
for all truth is eminently comprised in this sacrifice of love, 
in which the soul strips itself of all, to give all to God." 

In another place (Meditation of God's operation in the 
Soul), he says of his own experience, "I tried, by collecting 
together in my mind all the wonderful works of nature, to 
form an idea of Thy grandeur. I sought thee among thy 
creatures, and did not think to find thee in my own heart, 
where thou art never absent. 'So, there is no need, O my 
God, 'to descend into the deep, nor to go over the sea,' as 
say the Scriptures, 'nor to ascend into heaven' to find thee, 
for thou art nearer to us than we are to ourselves." 

And in his "Directions for a Holy Life," he thus ex- 
presses himself: "Let us seek God within us, and we shall 
infallibly find him, and with him joy and peace. In our 
outward occupations let us be occupied more with God 
than all the rest. To do them well, we must do them as in 

his presence, and for his sake." "We must often 

lift up our heart to God ; he will purify, enlighten, and di- 
rect it. It was the daily practice of the holy prophet David. 
'I have set,' says he, 'the Lord always before me.'" . . . . 
"We must endeavor to have a continual correspondence 
and fellowship with God. Let us be persuaded that the 
most profitable and desirable state in this life is Christian 
Perfection; which consists in the union of the soul with 
God, an union that includes in i.t all spiritual good. This 
is the happy state to which w^e are called; we, whom God 
hath separated from the corruptions of this world. If we 
do not partake of these heavenly blessings, it is our own 



I 



JANE MARY GUION. 399 

fault; since the Spirit of God disposes and excites us con- 
tinually to aspire after them As saith the apostle, 

let us 'walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, re- 
deeming the time, because the days are evil.'" 

Yet it is painful to be obliged to believe, that so amiable 
and in many respects so enlightened a man should not have 
stood uprightly faithful to the responsibilities entailed by 
his religious position, when the persecution which assailed 
the friend who placed so much confidence in him, threat- 
ened to involve himself likewise; and the truthfulness of 
history demands that our admiration of his character should 
not be suffered to blind us to the fact that he was neverthe- 
less a Romish dignitary, and not prepared to imperil his 
high ecclesiastical position, for the sake of defending a de- 
fenseless woman. Even the estimable Tronson, in writing 
to Fenelon immediately after his appointment, in 1689, as 
Preceptor of the Duke of Burgundy, heir-presumptive to 
the throne of France, held language tending to encourage 
him in what, in these days, we should consider as a com- 
promise with "the spirit that now rules in the children of 
disobedience," unworthy of a Christian pastor. He says,* 
"A thousand occasions will present themselves, in which 
you will consider yourself bound, by prudence and even by 
benevolence, to concede something to the world ; and yet 
[as if recoiling with shame from his own doctrine] what a 
strange state it is for a Christian to be in, and still more 
for a priest, to behold himself obliged to enter into a com- 
pact with the enemy of his salvation !" 

While the acrimony of the persecution of his friend was 
at its height, in 1695, and alarmed that the tempest was 
lowering upon himself in the clouds of that controversy in 
which he became involved with Bossuet, Fenelon wrote 
to the latter, respecting the articles against J. M. Guion, 

* Bausset, vol. i. p. 49. 



400 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

"that he would sign them from deference, against his con- 
viction; but if they would add certain things to them, he 
would cheerfully sign them with his blood." (Bausset, p. 
117 ) ''He had," says Bausset, "concurred with sincerity 
in the intentions of Madame de Maintenon, of checking, at 
St. Cyr, that inclination to religious novelty, which had 
alarmed her ; he was the first to advise her to withdraw, 
from the hands of the nuns, not only the printed works of 
Madame Guion, but her written notions also." 

These, it is true, are the words of the Bishop of Alais, 
who might easil}^ be supposed anxious to show that J. M. 
Guion's course was not altogether sanctioned by the Arch- 
bishop of Cambray. But we have Fenelon's own words, evi- 
dencing how he flinched from the danger of being involved 
with her in suffering for the cause of Christ. In writing 
to Tronson (Bausset, p. 136), he speaks of being urged to 
condemn her and her writings, and excuses himself thus: 
''But this is what even the Inquisition would not demand; 
nor will I ever do it, unless in obedience to the church, 
when it shall be thought fit to devise a formula such as 
was employed against the Jansenists.* What does it sig- 
nify, that I believe Madame Guion to be neither wicked nor 
mad, if at the same time I abandon her by my silence, and 
suffer her to perish in prison, without interfering either 
directly or indirectly with anything that concerns her?" 

How sorrowful is it to be obliged to acknowledge that 
these are the words of the great and amiable Fenelon 1 
And not only this; but that in writing to the Marchioness 
de Maintenon, f he could, while professing some degree of 
regret at the unfairness with which Bossuet was misrepre- 
senting her, yet hold such language as the following, to ex- 

- Doubtless meaning, one so ambiguously worded as to admit of a 
double construction. 

t Bausset, vol. i. pp. 139-145. 



JANE MARY GUION. 401 

cuse his leaving her to the malice of those who had not, as 
he had, tasted of the sweetness and loveliness of her spirit 
and of her sentiments ! He says, in the first place: ''It is 
quite unpardonable in the Bishop of Meaux to represent to 
you, as the doctrine of Madame Guion, what is nothing 
but idle fancy, or some figurative expression, or something 
tantamount to it, which she herself disclosed to him only 
in the secrecy of confession." And again: "Nothing has 
been said of her morals, but what was calumny ! Nothing 
can be imputed to her but an indiscreet zeal, and a mode 
of speaking of herself, which are too advantageous to her 
doctrine. Admitting that she had erred, without duplicity, 
was it a crime ?*' And yet with all this, and knowing that 
her enemies were urging the persecution against her to the 
utmost, he could acknowledge that he might be in error in 
esteeming her as "a person whom I believe to be holy," 
and add, "As I will never either speak or write, so as to 
patronize or vindicate this woman, my error is as harmless 
toward the church, as it is innoxious toward myself." . . . 
" I never had any predilection either for her or her writ- 
ings. I have never experienced anything extraordinary in 
her, which could at all prepossess me in her favor." And 
after proposing to obtain from her some explanations or 
concessions, under certain circumstances, to appease her 
enemies and his own, he adds: "After that, let her die in 
prison. I am content that she should die there ; that we 
never see her again, that we never hear speak of her 
again !" 

It can scarcely be doubted that Fenelon, occupying as 
he did a post of great importance in the French church, 
having much influence among the enlightened portion of 
the French people, and holding the position of preceptor 
to the grandsons of the monarch, might, by a bold and 
fearless advocacy of the innocence of his friend, have been 



402 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

of essential ser\"ice to that deeply calumniated and afflicted 
woman. How wretched must be that system of church 
policy, which could promote views and conduct so averse 
to Christian charity, honor, and faithfulness, even in one of 
the most estimable and amiable of men ! 

For a few years after the termination of this imprison- 
ment, Jane M. Guion lived more or less a retired life; 
partly with her daughter, who had married the Count de 
Yaux, and who, being quite youthful, needed her maternal 
advice and assistance, and partly in religious houses where 
she had hoped to be exempt from further persecution. But 
her half-brother, La Mothe, and others, were still bent on 
continuing their efforts to destroy her character, and they 
gradually enlisted men of greater eminence and influence 
than themselves in the work. The Marchioness de Main- 
tenon, however, at this time, continued to befriend her, 
and for about four years promoted her frequent visits to 
her favorite seminary for orphan girls, which she had 
established at the village of ''St. Cyr," and where J. M. 
Guion's influence had a marked effect in the increase of 
true piety among the pupils. At length the jealousy of 
her enemies invaded even this limited field of her labors 
for the good of souls, and she was compelled to desist 
from visiting that seminary. About this time her perse- 
cutors procured an attempt to poison her, by one of her 
domestics, who immediately fled. The result was not 
fatal, but she was taken alarmingly iil, and had to retire 
for a time to Bourbon, for the recovery of lier health. 

It was near this time also, that she was strongly so- 
licited by some of her friends to become acquainted with 
the celebrated J. B. Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux; who, they 
told her, was not averse to inward religion "I knew," 
she says, "that he had read, about eight or ten years be- 
fore, the ' Short Method of Praj^er,' and the ' Commenta- 



JANE MARY GUTON. 403 

ries on tlie Canticles,' and had approved of them ; so that 
I consented to see him with pleasure. But, oh, how 
greatly have I found, during my life, that everything done 
from motives of mere human contrivance turns into shame, 
confusion, and grief! I flattered myself at that time (and 
I acknowledge my fault therein) that he would sustain me 
against those who were oppressing me : but how far was I 
from knowing him ! And how greatly is that liable to 
fail, which we do not see in the light of the Lord, and 
which He does not discover to us !" 

Bossuet was introduced to her by her friend the Duke 
de Chevreuse from motives of kindness ; but it proved to 
be the means of throwing her still more completely into 
the hands of her enemies. This learned and accomplished 
prelate professed at first a great esteem for her writings, 
and for the inward work of religion advocated in them, 
and thereby gained her confidence for a time. He held 
long conversations with her on religious subjects, and she 
put copies of her works, and even the manuscript history 
of her life, into his hands for examination. This latter 
was accompanied with a strict condition, acceded to by 
him, that it was under the same secrecy as if communi- 
cated at the confessional. He requested four or five 
months, to enable him to read them at his leisure. 

About the beginning of the 3^ear 1694, he desired to see 
her again. He had two interviews with her, and in the 
last of them he developed himself quite different!}'-, seemed 
like another man, made many objections to her writings, 
and produced a memorandum of these objections, containing 
twenty articles. She thought she was sensible of being 
divinely aided in her replies to his objections, yet she could 
not entirely satisfy him. He had a quick, arrogant, and 
imperious manner when speaking to females, or to persons 
of humble demeanor, and he scarce!}^ gave her an oppor- 



404 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

tunity to explain her sentiments ; so that she found herself 
afterward so overcome and exhausted with the mental effort 
to explain herself to him, that she was sick for several days. 
" He ordered me," she says, "to justify my books ; but this 
I declined as much as I could ; because, having submitted 
them with all my heart, I did not wish to undertake to justify 
them. But he would have it. I protested then that I did it 
onl}^ out of obedience, and was sincerely willing to condemn 
all that w^as to be condemned. I have always held this lan- 
guage, w^hich vras in fact that of my heart even more than 
of my mouth. He desired me to give him a reason for an in- 
finity of things which I knew nothing about [not professing 
to be a theologian]. I had often written things which I had 
not studied or thought much of, and I had not premeditated 
any replies before seeing him. T 'would have desired him 
to judge of me, not by his mere reason, but by his heart. 
Truth alone was my strength, and I was willing that my 
mistakes should be known. I hoped that the same God, 
who formerly caused the ass to speak, could cause a w^oman 
to speak, who often knew no more of the subjects of which 
she spoke, than did Balaam's ass. This was the disposition 
of my heart, in my conferences with the Bishop of Meaux." 
" He made many objections to what I had said in the 
account of my life, respecting the apostolic state. What I 
wished to express was, that persons whose condition ren- 
ders them far from fit to help souls (such as laymen and 
women) should not meddle with it of themselves; but that 
w^hen Godwins to make use of them by his own authority, 
they must be put into that state of which I spoke. Many 
good souls who experience the first effects of the unction 
of grace, of that anointing spoken of by St. John (I. John ii. 
20 and 2t), which teaches all truth, when they begin to feel 
this unction, are so charmed with it that they desire all the 
world as it were to partake with them. But not yet being 



JANE MARY GUION. 405 

actually brought to the fountain^ and this unction being 
given them for themselves and not for others, if they scatter 
it abroad they lose little by little the sacred oil, and be- 
come like the foolish virgins : the wise ones on the other 
hand keep their oil for themselves until they are introduced 
into the marriage chamber of Christ; then can they give of 
.their oil, because the Lamb is the lamp which enlightens 
them. That this state is possible, it is only needful to open 
the history of all times, to show that God has made use of 
laymen, and women without learning, to instruct, edify, 
direct, and lead souls to true perfection. I believe that 
one of the reasons why God has seen meet to do this, has 
been in order that he should not be robbed of his glory. 
' He has chosen the weak things of the world to confound 
the things that are mighty.' .... I pray the Lord with 
all my heart, that he would crush me {m'^ecraseroit) by all 
the most terrible means, rather than let me rob him of the 
least measure of his glory. I am a mere nothing ; but my 
God is all-powerful, who is pleased to exert his power on 
that which is nothing." 

Bossuet thought her cautions against self-activity were 
dangerous and liable to abuse, and that there were but four 
or five persons in the world who held her views of prayer 
and her objections against activity: but she maintained that 
the abuse of her precautions might be guarded against ; 
that there were, on the contrary, more than a hundred 
thousand souls in the world to whom they would be ac- 
ceptable, and that it was for such that she had written. 

At length Bossuet professed to be satisfied that she was 
at least no heretic, and offered to testify to that effect; 
though he still objected to some of her sentiments, as not 
satisfactory to himself. She soon found rumors again 
afloat against her character ; and being informed that the 
Marchioness de Maintenon had given an ear to those ru- 

18* 



406 REFORMER.-: AND MARTYRS. 

mors to such a degree as to become entirely alienated in 
her feelings, she Avrote to this influential personage, earn- 
estly requesting that a commission might be appointed, of 
persons of known probity and without prejudice, half lay- 
men and half ecclesiastics, for a thorough examination of 
her conduct. This she claimed- as due to the church, to 
her family, and to herself The letter was delivered by the 
hand of one of her friends, the Duke de Beauvilliers ; to 
whom the marchioness declared that she gave no credence 
to the rumors against J. M. Guion's moral character ; but 
that it was her doctrines that she was afraid of; and that if 
her moral character was cleared, it was to be feared that 
her sentiments would thereby more easily find currency ; 
and she declined to have anything to do with the appoint- 
ment so earnestly requested. 

Jane M. Guion was deepl}^ affected at this refusal ; but she 
was made willing to leave it all to her Maker, to order as 
it might please Him ; and she now saw no way left for her 
but to go into close retirement from the notice of the world. 
She thus expresses a portion of her feeUngs : " People will 
say, 'But what! pass for a heretic ?' — What can I do? I 
have written candidly my thoughts. I submit them, with 
all my heart, to be judged. It is said they can have a good 
or a bad sense. I know that I wrote them in a good sense, 
that I know nothing of the bad sense, and that I willingly 
submit them as to both. What can I do more ? When I 
wrote, I was always ready to burn what I wrote, at the 
least signal. Let it be burnt or censured, I wish to take 
no part. It is sufficient for me that my heart bears me 
testimony of my faith, since they will not have any public 
testimony, which 1 have freely offered. They want to cor- 
rupt my character, in order to corrupt my faith. I wish to 
justify my character, in order to justify my faith ; but they 
will not have it done. What can I do more ? I cannot 
acknowledge thoughts which I never entertained, nor 



JANE MARY GUTON. 40t 

crimes which- 1 have never known, much less committed; 
for this would be to lie against the Holy Spirit ; and while 
I am ready to die for my faith and the decisions of the 
church, I am also ready to die to maintain that I have not 
thought that which they have wished me to appear to 
think, in my writings, and that I have not committed the 
crimes which they impute to me." 

After some time, the Duke de Chevreuse informed her 
that the Marchioness de Maintenon, and some others about 
the court, had concluded to have a commission appointed, 
to examine, not the assaults on her moral character, as re- 
quested, which would have been an act of simple justice, 
but the supposed errors of her writings. Even this, she 
thought, composed of men of knowledge and integrity, 
would have tended to correct the current opinions and re- 
move prejudices, if they had proceeded with such inten- 
tions ; "but," she says, "it was condemnation that they 
desired to secure, and to confirm it in the minds of those 
favorable to me, by their authority." 

In attacking her writings, she believed they had another 
object now in view, which was to bring the Abbe Fenelon 
into disrepute, and eventually into persecution. The com- 
missioners now appointed, and who appear indeed to have 
been suggested by herself, under the belief that they were 
candid and upright men, were Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux, 
the Cardinal De Noailles, then Bishop of Chalons, and 
Tronson, Superior of the Sulpitian Seminary. In order to 
facilitate their examination, and at their request, she under- 
took to prepare a work of considerable labor, which she 
entitled "Justifications" of her writings. This took her 
nearly two months to accomplish ;* but when finished, she 

* There is a copy of this rare work in the Philadelphia Library. It is 
in three volumes Svo., containing over 1000 pages; yet she says she 
wrote it in about fifty days. It comprises quotations from sixty-three 
authors of repute in the Eomish church. 



•108 UEFORMERS AND MAUTYRS. 

soon found that Bossuet had again turned against her, for 
he would neither read it himself nor let the others see it. 
He had in fact evidently determined to bring about her 
condemnation, and it afterward appeared that he had ac- 
tually promised this to the Marchioness deMaintenon. J. 
M. Guion requested, as a favor, that her friend, the Duke 
de Chevreuse, might be permitted to be present at the ex- 
aminations, and that the successive conclusions should be 
put in VvTiting. But Bossuet would consent to neither of 
these reasonable requests. The amiable Tronson was pre- 
vented by sickness from leaving his home, and Bossuet not 
being willing to go thither, he and the Bishop of Chalons 
went on without him. Bossuet endeavored by all means 
to intimidate and confound her. "He reproached me," 
says she, " with my ignorance — told me that I knew 
nothing — and repeated unceasingly, after having made ri- 
diculous nonsense {des galimatias) of all that I said, that 
he was astonished at my ignorance. I replied nothing to 
these reproaches, and the ignorance af which he accused 
me ought to have shown him, at least, that I said truly, that 
what I had written had been by an actual light vouchsafed, 
as nothing dwelt on ray spirit when that was withdrawn." 
. . . . ''It is impossible to reply to a man who throws you 
down {qui vouh terraase), who will not understand you, and 
who crushes you incessantly. For my part, I lose the 
thread of what I want to say, and can remember nothing 
more." 

After this conference, Bossuet told the Marchioness de 
Maintenon, that having convicted J. M. Guion of her 
errors, he hoped after a while to induce her to go into a 
convent in his diocesan city, where he should be able qui- 
etly to accomplish vrhat he designed. The Bishop of Cha- 
lons, on the contrary, seemed satisfied with her; and told 
her that he saw nothing for her to change in her present 



JANE MARY GUION. 409 

practice of prayer, or otherwise; and that he prayed God 
to increase more and more his mercies and grace to her.* 
She sought an interview with Tronson at Issi, who, though 
still sick, entered closely and candidly into an investiga- 
tion of the affair ; after which the Duke de Chevreuse said 
to him, " You see that she is right ?" To which he re- 
phed, "I perceive it well;" and appeared to be content. 

In hopes of at length appeasing the Bishop of Meaux, 
and satisfying him of her innocence by further intercourse, 
she offered to place herself for a time under his supervi- 
sion, in a convent in Meaux. To this, as being exactly 
what he thought would answer his present purpose, he 
gladly acceded, named the convent, and fixed the time for 
her going thither. She remarks : " This pleased Bossuet 
extremely, in the idea that he would thence derive great 
temporal advantages, as I learned afterward. He said to 
the Mother Picard, the Superior of the Convent, that it 
was worth to him the Archbishopric of Paris and a car- 
dinal's hat. I replied to this Mother, when she told me of 
it, that Grod would permit him to have neither the one nor 
the other." 

She accordingly went to Meaux at the time appointed, 
the beginning of the year 1695, though at the risk of her 
life; as the weather was unusually severe, and the coach 
in which she travelled was almost overwhelmed in a deep 

* The poor Cardinal De Noailles seems to have been subject to many 
conflicts and fluctuations, indicating a mind of good intentions, but 
easily turned aside from its convictions by designing men. He had hith- 
erto been known as a defender of the spiritual writings of Quesnel ,• but 
being made Archbishop of Paris the next year, he soon weakly complied 
with the wishes of the Jesuits and the king, and became an opponent 
of the views of the Jansenists. In 1709 he was induced to issue the 
order for the suppression of the Monastery of Port Royal; a deed, of 
which he afterward bitterly repented, visiting the spot in deep remorse, 
and pouring out many tears and prayers for forgiveness over its ruins. 
See Tregelles's "Jansenists/' pp. 37 and 39. 



410 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

snowdrift, in which she had to remain for several hours. 
The result of this was an illness of six weeks. Bossuet, 
though at first expressing pleasure at her obedience to him, 
in coming so punctually through such a storm, afterward 
charged her with doing it through artifice and hypocrisy. 
She keenly felt his unkindness, but says that the Lord's 
invisible hand sustained her, without which she must have 
sunk under so many trials. "All thy waves and thy bil- 
lows," she sometimes exclaimed, "have come over me!" 
Yet when she remembered that Christ himself was " reck- 
oned among transgressors," she was content that the hand- 
maid should be as her Master. While she remained here, 
her enemies again set afloat the most wicked tales respect- 
ing her, employing abandoned individuals to invent and 
spread abroad accounts of her being guilty of various 
things which she knew nothing about, but which led peo- 
ple to believe that her conduct was very reprehensible. 
Some of these things were in forged letters, which were 
afterward found to be falsifications ; yet her persecutors 
did not stop for that. They cared not whether they were 
true or false, so that they accomplished their end. 

Bossuet gave himself but little opportunity of any bet- 
ter acquaintance with her ; for he almost immediately left 
Meaux for Paris, where he remained for many weeks. 
When he at length returned, he found her quite sick; but 
entering her chamber, the first thing he said to her was, 
that she had many enemies, and that ever}^ one was exas- 
perated against her. ' He brought her some articles, pre- 
pared for her to sign, in order to ensnare her. 

A few days after this, he again came into her room, and 
when the nuns who had been with her had retired, he ap- 
proached her bed, and told her that he wished her to sign 
an acknowledgment that she "did not believe in the Incar- 
nate Word!" Many of the nuns, being still in the ante- 



JANE MARY GUTON. 411 

chamber, heard him distinctly. Astonished at such a pro- 
posal, she told him she could not sign what was false. 
He repeated, that "he would make her do it." She an- 
swered him: "I know how to suffer, by the grace of God 
— I can die — but I cannot sign falsehoods." He then 
begged her to do it, saying that if she would comply, he 
would re-establish her reputation, and say all manner of 
good things of her. She replied, that ''it was for God to 
take care of her reputation, if it pleased him; and for her 
to maintain her faith at the peril of her life." Seeing that 
he gained nothing, he retired. The inmates of the con- 
vent were greatly shocked, and wrote to the bishop their 
convictions of her piety, but all to no purpose. He ac- 
knowledged to them that he himself found no evil in her, 
but good; but that her enemies tormented him, and de- 
sired to find something wrong in her — that in her writings 
he had only found certain terms not strictly theological ; 
but that a woman might be excused for not being a theol- 
ogist. 

It will be necessary to go somewhat into details with 
regard to what passed between Bossuet and J. M. Guion 
shortly afterward, as related by herself, in order to devel- 
ope the shameful artifices and oppressions by which her 
enemies endeavored to get her into their power, and how 
ready that renowned prelate, who ought to have protected 
this innocent and helpless woman, was to become a tool 
for the accomplishment of their ends against her. It is the 
more needful to do this, inasmuch as the anonymous Eng- 
lish translator of her '' Life," for some reason, probably 
with a view to screen this celebrated ecclesiastic from the 
reprobation so palpably due to his conduct when clearly 
known, has thought fit to omit the particulars of his out- 
rageous treatment of her on this occasion, condensing the 
whole matter into three sentences. 



412 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

" Some days afterward," she says,* "the Bishop of Meaux 
returned. He brought me a paper written by his own 
hand, which was only a profession of faith, that I had al- 
ways been an apostoKc Koman Catholic, and including a 
submission of my books to the church ; such as I would 
have made of myself whenever it might have been re- 
quired. He then read to me another, which he said he 
would give me, which was a Certificate such as he gave me 
some time afterward, yet even more advantageous. As I 
was then too sick to be able to transcribe the paper of Sub- 
mission, which was in his handwriting, he told me to have 
it copied by one of the nuns, and then sign it. He took 
back his Certificate, to finish it ofi' completely, as he said; 
and he assured me that on my giving him the one, he 
would give me the other ; that he wished to treat me as 
his sister, and that he should indeed be a knave to act 
otherwise. This proceeding, apparently so honorable, 
charmed me. I said to him, that I had put myself entirely 
into his hands, not only as into the hands of a .bishop, but 
as into those of a man of honor. 

"I found myself so ill after his departure, being ex- 
tremely weak, and fatigued with my exertions in speaking 
to him, that it was necessary to revive me with cordials. 
The Superior, fearing that if he returned in the morning I 
might not be able to bear it, wrote to request him to leave 
me that one day for repose; but he would not. On the 
contrary, he came that very day, and demanded of me 
whether I had signed the writing which he had left with 
me ; and opening a blue portfolio, which was locked, he 
said to me : * Here is my Certificate — where is your Sub- 
mission ?' He held a paper while he said that. I pointed 
out to him my Submission, which was on my bed, and 
which I had not strength to reach to him. He took it, and 
I had no doubt he was going to give me his writing. But 

^ "La Vie de Madame Guion, cerite par ellememe," vol, iii. p. 220. 



JANE MARY GUION. 413 

not at all ; he slmt up the whole in his portfolio, and told 
me that he would give me nothing — that I was not yet at 
the end — that he was going to torment me still more, and 
that he wanted other signatures — among them, this : that 
I did not believe in the Incarnate Word. Judge of my 
surprise ! I was speechless from weakness and astonish- 
ment. He then departed. The nuns were astounded at 
such behavior. He was under no obligation to have prom- 
ised me a Certificate — I had not requested it of him. But 
I then thought it needful to make a protestation, in pres- 
ence of a notary of Meaux. 

" Some time after this, the bishop came to see me again. 
He demanded of me that I should sign his Pastoral Letter, 
avowing that I had held the errors which were therein 
condemned. I endeavored to convince him that the paper 
I had given him comprised a complete submission ; and 
although in this Pastoral Letter he had numbered me with 
transgressors, I was endeavoring to honor this state of suf- 
fering with Christ without complaint. He said to me : 
'But you promised to submit to my condemnation.' — 
' That I do with all my heart,' replied I ; * and I now take 
no more interest in those little books than if I had not 
written them myself. If it please God, I will never de- 
part from the submission and respect due to you, whatever 
way things may turn ; but, my lord, you promised me a 
discharge.' — 'I will give it you when you will do what 
I wish,' said he. I replied: 'You did me the honor to 
say that when I gave you, signed, this act of submission, 
dictated by j^ourself, you would give me my discharge.' — 
'Those were words,' said he, 'which escaped me before I 
had maturely considered what could and ought to be done.' 

' It is not for the sake of complaining to you, that I 

say this,' replied I; 'but to call to your recollection that 
you promised it to me; and to convince you of my sub- 



414 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

mission, I will write at the foot of your Pastoral Letter all 
that I can put there.' After having done this, and he 
having read it, he told me that he found it good enough ; 
then, after putting it in his pocket, he said : ' That is not to 
the point ; you did not say that you were strictly a heretic, 
which I want you to declare ; and also that the Pastoral 
Letter is very just, and that you acknowledge having been 
in all the errors which it condemns.' I replied : ' I believe 
it is to try me, that you say that ; for I will never persuade 
myself that a prelate of such piety and honor would make 
use of the good faith with which I have come to put myself 
in his diocese, for the purpose of compelling rae to do 
things against my conscience. I believed I found in you 
a father — I entreat that I may not be deceived in my 
expectation.' — 'I am a father of the church,' said he 
to me; 'but, in short, this is not a question of words. 
Unless you sign this according to my wishes, I will come 
with witnesses, and after having admonished you in their 
presence, I will deliver you over to the church, and we will 
excommunicate you (retrancheronfi — literally, suppress, or 
put you down) according to the gospel.' .... I said to 
him: * I have no one but my God for my witness ; I am 
prepared to suffer everything; and I hope that Grod will 
give me of his grace to do nothing contrary to my con- 
science, without ever departing from the respect which I 
owe to you.' He desired, in the same conversation, to in- 
duce me to make an acknowledgment, that there were 
errors in the Latin book of Father La Combe, and yet at 
the same time to declare that I had not read it. 

" The young women who witnessed a portion of the vio- 
lence and angriness of the bishop, could not recover from 
their astonishment; and the Mother Picard (the superior) 
told me that my too great mildness had emboldened liim 
to treat me ill ; for his turn of mhid was such, that he 



JANE MARY GUION. 415 

usually acted in this manner toward mild people, but was 
more pliant with those who stood high. Yet I never 
changed my behavior toward him, and preferred to take 
the portion of suffering, rather than to be wanting in any 
of the respect due to his character. 

'' Sometimes, when he came, he told me that, as for him- 
self, he was satisfied with me, but that my enemies told 
him to torment me. At other times he would come full of 
fury, to demand of me that signature which he well knew 
I would not give. He threatened me with all that has 
since been done to me, saying, he was not going to lose his 
fortune for me, and many other such things. After these 
fiery outbreaks, he returned to Paris, and did not come 
back for some time. 

"At length, after I had been six months at Meaux, he 
gave me a Certificate of his own accord, without asking rae 
any more for a signature. What is astonishing, he ex- 
pressed a willingness that I should continue in his diocese, 
acknowledging that God had given me a very certain light 
on the subject of the inward life ; and a little before my de- 
parture, he remarked to the Archbishops of Paris and of 
Sens, how much he was satisfied and edified with me ; and 
at the mass he wished me to take the communion from his 
own hand. -On that occasion he preached an astonishing 
sermon on the inward life, advancing things much stronger 
than what I. had myself advanced, and saying that he was 
not master of himself in the midst of these awful mysteries; 
that he was obliged to speak the truth, and not at all to 
dissimulate ; that this avowal of the truth was absolutely 
necessary, since God had required it of him, as if in spite 
of himself The Superior went to salute him after his ser- 
mon, and asked him, how he could so torment me, with 
such sentiments as he had avowed ? He answered her, 
that it was not he, it was my enemies." We may well say, 
Is Saul also among the prophets? 



416 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

Soon after this she departed from Meaux, with the es- 
teem and love of the inmates of the convent. The Certifi- 
cate given to her by Bossuet demands a passing notice. It* 
recited that in consequence of her having submitted to his 
prohibitions against her "writing, teaching, dogmatizing 
in the church, or spreading her printed books or manu- 
scripts, or conducting souls in the ways of prayer, or other- 
wise, together with her good character while in the Con- 
vent of St. Mary, he rested satisfied with her conduct, and 
had continued to grant her the sacraments ; and declared 
that he found her by no means implicated in the abomina- 
tions of Molinos, or other condemned writers, and did not 
intend to include her in the mention made of them in his 
Ordinance of 6th April, 1695.'^ 

. Whether J. M. Gruion really did submit to be governed in 
the matters referred to, by the bishop's prohibition, as im- 
plied in his Certificate, does not appear. If she did, she 
seems to have carried her apprehension of the duty of 
obedience to ecclesiastical authority rather too far ; as she 
had merely been exercising, according to her conscientious 
convictions, and as she verily believed under the constrain- 
ing influence of divine grace and gospel love, a liberty al- 
lowed to all under the gospel dispensation, and entirely 
consistent with gospel order. But Ave have no evidence 
that the statement is anything more than Bossuet's own 
construction of her submission, in order to get rid of the 
difficulty in which he felt himself placed, in his attempts to 
inculpate this innocent woman. And if that " Ordinance 
of 6th April" refers to his Pastoral Letter above alluded to, 
we can at once perceive, from the foregoing relation, how 
much reliance is to be placed on his assertion, when he 
says he had not intended to include her in the statement 
made therein ! 

But scarcely had she left the city of Meaux, when the 



JANE MARY GUION. ill 

bishop, calling on the Marchioness de Maintenon in Paris, 
found that the Certificate which he had given was by no 
means palatable to that personage, as it did not at all ac- 
complish the desired end. He therefore set about to pro- 
cure possession again of that document. He wrote another, 
and desired the Superior of the convent to deliver it to J. 
M. Guion, and require her to give up the first. She sent 
it by letter to her persecuted friend, at the same time ad- 
vising her not to trust herself again into Bossuet's hands; 
for that she was convinced he was endeavoring once more 
to entrap her. Accordingly, seeing that the second paper 
was an artful attempt to do away the justifying effect of 
the first, by carefully contrived expressions really intended 
to promote the idea of her continued unsoundness and con- 
tumacy, she declined any further interview, and replied that 
the first paper having been placed in the hands of her family 
for iier own safety and justification, was not now within 
her own power, and would scarcely be likely to be returned 
by them. She soon found that Bossuet was exasperated at 
this refusal and apparent escape from him ; and her enemies 
now showed such a determination to pursue her, that she 
concluded it would be needful to retire into complete 
privacy. Not wishing to involve any of her friends in dif- 
ficulty on her account, she took a small house in an obscure 
part of Paris ; where she spent her time, for some months, 
unknown to the world, in pra.yer, reading, needlework, etc., 
accompanied only by a few confidential domestics. Her 
place of retreat was however at length discovered by the 
police ; and about the end of the year 1695, she was arrested, 
and, by a despotic process which was a disgrace to the reign 
of Louis XIY., was consigned to the Castle of Yincennes, 
without a trial, and without specification of the charges 
against her. 

In her own account of her life, she has drawn a veil over 



418 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

the sufferings which she endured in her imprisonments; 
partly, as she says, out of charity for those who were the 
instigators of those sufferings; but chiefly, as we may sup- 
pose, owing to the circumstance that all prisoners in the 
Bastile were bound under oath not to divulge what passed 
in that doleful place. Her American biographer Upham 
has collected a few particulars of this portion of her life, 
from which we may in some measure supply the defi- 
ciency. 

She remained in the Castle of Yincennes about nine 
months, and was then transferred to a place of confinement 
connected with a monastery in the village of Yaugirard, 
near Paris; where she had a little more liberty to see her 
friends. But the Archbishop of Paris becoming alarmed 
at this, compelled her to sign a paper agreeing " to receive 
no visits, hold no conversations, and write no letters, with- 
out the express permission of the Curate of St. Sulpitius." 
Being now. entirely in the power of her enemies, she could 
not easily do otherwise than submit to them. Yet we may 
query, how far the servant of the Lord is at liberty to sub- 
mit, by a voluntary signature, to power clearly exercised 
against His own divine commands. About this time like- 
wise, Grodet Marais, the Bishop of Chartres, within whose 
diocese was the "Seminary of St. Cyr," where, her labors 
had been attended with remarkably awakening results in 
the minds of many of the pupils, issued an ecclesiastical 
ordinance, condemning her writings as ''false, rash, impi- 
ous, heretical, and tending to renew the errors of Luther 
and Calvin ;" and caused all her books to be removed from 
the seminary, to the great grief of the pious female who 
had charge of the institution. 

A nefarious attempt to ruin both her and Francis La 
Combe, transpired when she had been about two years at 
Yaugirard. The Archbishop of Paris came into her prison, 



JANE MARY GUION. 419 

accompanied bv the above-mentioned " Curate of St. Sul- 
pitius ;" and read to her, without letting her see the writing, 
a letter purporting to come from La Combe, addressed to 
herself, referring to irregularities of conduct on the part of 
both of them, and exhorting her to repent. These priests, 
after reading the letter to her, urged her earnestly to merit 
forgiveness by confessing her guilt. Astonished at the 
transaction, but conscious of her innocence, she meekly re- 
plied, that either that letter was a forgery, or that La 
Combe, worn out mentally and bodily by his long incarcer- 
ation, had lost his intellectual powers, and had written it, 
or signed it, at the instigation of some one, without know- 
ing what it was. Upham adds, that "her perfect self-pos- 
session, her serious and unaffected air of innocence, the 
conviction which suddenly flashed upon their own minds, 
that an attempt had been made to destroy the most devoted 
and virtuous of women by the foulest of means, compelled 
them to leave her prison with a shame to themselves hardly 
less than the sorrow which they brought to her. The secret 
history of this atrocious movement is not well known." 
La Combe's mental and physical system had indeed given 
way at length under the sufferings which he had so long 
endured ; so that it had been deemed needful to transfer 
him from his prison to a public hospital for sick and insane 
persons, in the village of Charenton. "On his way he was 
lodged for a short time in the Castle of Tincennes, where 
the above paper was prepared, and his signature obtained 
to it. Shortly after his arrival at Charenton he died ; but 
it was satisfactorily ascertained, that at the time of his 
death, and for some time before, he had not sufficient power 
of perception and reasoning, to know what he did, and to 
render him accountable for his acts." 

The failure of this wicked attempt to ruin her character, 
exasperated her enemies, who thereupon obtained an order 



420 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 



from the king to transfer her to one of the towers, in the 
Bastile. Upham has given an interesting description of 
this dismal place. It was mainly composed of eight large 
and immensely strong towers, four storied, and eighty 
feet high, united by very thick walls enclosing two large 
courts and several other apartments, and the whole sur- 
rounded by a deep and wide ditch. At the base of the 
towers w^ere dungeons below the level of the ground, with 
no fireplace in any of them. The walls of the tow^ers were 
twelve feet thick at the highest part, and thicker still near 
the base. The doors of the four rooms in each tower were 
double ; and the single window allotted to each room, 
twelve feet from the broad light of day, was, as well as the 
chimney, secured by prodigiously strong iron grates. The 
floors were of stone or tile. The furniture usuailly con- 
sisted of a bed, a table, a chair, a basin, and a large earthen 
water-pitcher, a brass candlestick, a broom, and a tinder- 
box. Everything was taken from the prisoners, on their 
entrance, except such clothing as was absolutely necessary. 
These stony rooms were exceedingly cold in winter, and 
badly ventilated in summer, and rendered more offensive 
by the putrid exhalations from the ditch below. 

We can noAV picture to ourselves this virtuous and highly 
gifted woman, shut up in one of these gloomy abodes, in 
the fifty- first 3^ear of her age, and with no prospect of re- 
lease from it during her life. She went thither in the 
autumn of 1698, and continued there four years, as far as 
appears in entire seclusion. She was not even allowed to 
write to her friends. The " Man of the Iron Mask," w^ho has 
been supposed to have been a twin-brother of Louis XIY., 
and confined during his whole life by his brother, from mo- 
tives of jealousy, w^as a prisoner there at the same time. 
" For the purpose of entire concealment, he wore a mask, 
of which the loAver part had steel springs, contrived so that 



n 



I 



JANE MARY GUION. 421 

he coujd eat without taking it off." Even the physician of 
the prison had never seen his face, though he had several 
times examined his tongue or his pulse. At this time he 
had been a prisoner thirty seven j'ears; "shut out from 
nature, from knowledge, and from man;" without an 3^ fault 
but that of his twin-birth of roj^alty! 

~ A pious woman also, who had long been a faithful do- 
mestic assistant to J. M. Guion, was imprisoned about the 
same time in the Bastile, though in a separate apartment. 
" She was a person of a strong understanding, as well as 
of a pious heart. Her letters show this. She teok a strong 
hold of the truth, and her purpose was fixed to maintain it. 
Nothing could turn her from what she believed to be the 

will of God." "If she had consented to say a word 

unfavorable to Madame Guion, she would undoubtedly have 
been set at liberty, and perhaps rewarded. But although 
she was poor and in prison, the world had not riches enough 
to seduce her principles, or pervert her integrity." She died 
in that prison. 

Whil^ J. M. Guion was thus confined in the Bastile, she 
was several times strictly interrogated by order of the king ; 
but she is said to have defended herself with great ability 
and firmness. 

Her feelings and experience during her imprisonments 
and subsequent banishment, ma}^ be gathered from the fol- 
lowing extracts from her own account. While it appears 
that both her intellectual and ph3^sical energy had been 
much worn down by her long and accumulated afflictions, 
yet there is a beautiful evidence in her writings of this 
period, brief as they were, that her soul had attained to a 
still nearer access to the Source of all wisdom and purity, 
and that her spirit had increased in weightiness, and in 
clearness of vision in divine things. 

19 



422 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

She says that she looked upon these greatest persecu- 
tions, which overtook her in the latter part of her life, as 
favors rather than as evils, and her most violent persecu- 
tors as instruments whereby her beloved Lord saw fit to 
accomplish the purification of her soul. Thus she says, 
"I w^as, in the prison, as in a place of delicacies and re- 
freshment; this seclusion from all fellow-creatures giving 
me more opportunity of being alone with God; and the 
privation of things which appeared the most necessary, 
enabling me to taste of an exterior poverty which I could 
not otherwise have experienced. Thus I regarded all these 
great apparent evils, and this universal outcry against me, 
as the greatest of all benefits. It seemed to me to be the 
work of the hand of the Almighty, who saw meet to cover 
his tabernacle with the skins of beasts, and thus to hide it 
from the sight of those to whom he would not that it 
should be manifested." 

But, she says, "Besides suffering many heavy and griev- 
ous maladies, the Lord permitted an inw^ard experience of 
great desolation foi* some months, so that I could, .only ex- 
claim, ' My God, my God ! why hast thou forsaken me ?' 
It seemed as if the Almighty, and also all his creatures, 
w^ere against me, and I was at length ready to take part 
with them even against myself, and to crave that every- 
thing of self might be entirely sacrificed and given up. 
And so I have preferred to consecrate all these sufferings 
by silence. If the Lord should permit that in a future day 
anything of them should be known, for his glory, I should 
adore his judgments ; but as for mj^self personally, my part 
is taken." "I have believed that I owed it to relig- 
ion, to piety, to my friends, to my family, and to myself, to 
develope those things, from time to time, in which others 
were sought to be implicated with me, or might be weak- 
ened or endangered by any faults of mine ; but as far as 



JANE MARY GUION. 423 

regarded my personal ill-treatment, I have believed it my 
duty to sacrifice and sanctif}^ them by profound silence." 

"During the time that I was at Yincennes, I rested in 
great peace, entirely content to pass my life there, if such 
was the will of God. I wrote hymns, and the young wo- 
man who attended on me learned them by heart as I wrote 
them, and we sang together thy praises, my Grod ! I 
looked upon myself as a little bird held in a cage at thy 
will, and felt that I must sing, to fulfil my allotment. The 
stones of my tower seemed like rubies — that is to say— I 
esteemed them more than all the magnificence of the age. 
My joy was founded on thy love, my God! and on the 
pleasure of being thy captive. The bottom of my heart 
was filled with that joy which thou givest to them who 
love thee in the midst of the greatest afflictions. 

''This peace was broken for a little time by my unfaith- 
fulness. This was in one da}^ premeditating what I should 
answer to an interrogation, to which I was expecting to be 
subjected the next day. I had before been greatly helped 
to reply to difficult questions with much facility and pres- 
ence of mind; but now, the Lord knew well how to punish 
me for my forethought. He permitted me to be unable to 
answer very simple questions, or to know scarcely what to 
say at all. This unfaithfulness, I say, interrupted my peace 
for some da3's, but it soon returned, and I believe this fault 
was permitted, in order to show the inutility of our own 
contrivances, and the safety of trusting in God. They 
whose foundation is on human reason will say that we 
must take forethought, and endeavor to pre-arrange, and 
that to act otherwise is to tempt God and expect miracles. 
I leave others to think what they will; but for myself, I 
find no safety but in resignation to the Lord. All Scrip- 
ture is full of testimonies to the need of this resignation. 
' Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him, and he 



424 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy right- 
eousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noon-day.' 
God has not, in saying this, undertaken to lay snares for 
us; nor yet in enjoining us ' not to take thought beforehand 
what ye shall answer.' " 

"While I was in the Bastile, and things were carried to 
the greatest extremity, having been apprised of the outcry 
and dreadful excitement that existed against me, I said, 
' my God ! if it is thy will to make me a new spectacle to 
angels and to men, thy holy will be done I All that I ask 
of thee, is that thou wouldst save those who are thine, and 
not permit them to be scattered — that neither principal- 
ities, nor powers, nor the sword, may ever separate us from 
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus ! For my own 
particular, what matters it what men think of me ? What 
matters it if they cause me to suffer, since they cannot se- 
parate me from Jesus Christ, who is graven in the bottom 
of my heart! Their blows will polish what is defec- 
tive in me, in order that I may be presented to Him for 
whom I die daily, until he come to finish this death ; and 
I pray thee, Lord, to make of me an offering pure and 
clean in thy blood, that I may soon be offered unto thee!'" 

In the year 1702, she was tardily liberated from her 
cruel imprisonment, one year after Bossuet had at length 
declared before the assembled ecclesiastics of Paris, his 
belief that she was an innocent woman. She was allowed 
for a short time to visit her daughter, and then banished to 
Blois,* about one hundred miles southwest from Paris ; 
where her eldest son, who had given her much trouble 
during his youth, and had since been bitterly at variance 

"-•• In 1709 or 1710^ the last Prioress of the Monaster}^ of Port Rojal 
des Champs, was, after the demolition of that convent, sent likewise to 
Blois, where she died after a captivity of about six years. (Ti-egelles's 
Ilistor}'^ of "The Jansenists," p. 39.) 



JANE MARY GUION. 425 

with her, now resided. It was probably thought that his 
proximity to her would be a check upon her during the 
rest of her days. Here she lived in comparative quietness 
and retirement, and, though closely watched, was able oc- 
casionally to see her friends. To an eminent person who 
visited her from England, whose name has not come down 
to us, she entrusted, near the close of her pilgrimage, the 
account of her Life, which she had originally undertaken 
at the earnest request of Francis La Combe. 

After her liberation from the Bastile, she says : " No 
sooner had my spirit begun as it were again to breathe 
freely, than my body found itself overwhelmed with all 
sorts of infirmities, and I had almost continual and danger- 
ous sicknesses. In these last days I can speak but little of 
my feelings. My condition has been simple and without 
variety, founded on a deep sense of nothingness. I know 
that Grod is infinitely holy, just, good, and happy, includ- 
ing in himself all that is good ; — but I see nothing baser 

than myself, nothing more unworthy than myself. 

If any one thinks there is any good in me, he deceives 
himself and wrongs the Almighty. AH good is in Him 

and for Him If he save me, it will be of his free 

grace, for I have neither merit nor worthiness I de- 
sire neither to go nor to stay — the will and the natural 
instincts appear to be gone — ^poverty and nakedness are my 

portion There are times when I could wish, at 

the peril of a thousand lives, that God was duly known 
and loved." 

"I seek for nothing, but words of strength are immedi- 
ately afforded me. If I wish to retain them, they escape 

— if I would repeat them, they are gone The Lord 

keeps me in extreme simplicity, rectitude of heart, and en- 
largement, and I perceive things only as it is needful — with- 
out the occasion for it, I see nothing He gives me 



426 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

a liberty in conversation with people, not according to my 
own disposition, but according to their state Some- 
times people tell me, 'You have said such and such things ; 
these persons can put a bad interpretation on them; you 
are too simple.' I believe it; but I cannot do otherwise. 
Oh, carnal prudence ! how opposed do I find thee to the 
simplicity of Christ! For me, Christ is my pru- 
dence and my wisdom." 

"Nothing is greater than God; nothing smaller than 
myself. He is rich ; I am poor ; yet I want nothing — I 
feel the lack of nothing. Death or life, eternity or time, 

all is equal to me. God is love, and love is God, 

and all in God and for God." 

She thus pours forth the travail of her soul on behalf of 
those whom she accounted her children in Christ; appa- 
rently conscious that she should see their faces no more, 
and that this was her last appeal for their preservation : 
" Oh, my children, open your eyes to the light of truth ! 

Holy Father, sanctify them in thy truth ! I have 

told them thy truth, since I have not spoken of myself. 
Thy Divine Word hath spoken to them by my mouth. 
He only is the Truth ; and He hath said, ' For their sakes 
I sanctify myself.' Say thou the same to my children. 
Sanctify thyself in them and for them. But how well do 
thy words agree together, 0, Divine Word ! Thou hast 
said, ' Sanctify them through thy truth ; thy word is truth ' 

— and again — 'For their sakes I sanctify myself.' 

This is to be sanctified with all holiness in the truth, when 
w^e have no other holiness than that of Jesus Christ. Let 
him alone be holy in us and for us. He will be the holy 
one in .us, when we are sanctified in the truth by this ex- 
perimental knowledge, that to him alone belongs all holi- 
ness, all justice, all strength, all greatness, all power, all 
glory ; and to us all poverty, and all weakness. Let us 



JANE MARY GTJION. 427 

dwell in our nothingness, in honor to the holiness of God, 
and we shall be sanctified and instructed by the Truth. 
Jesus Christ will be holiness for us, and will be everything 
to us ; we shall find in him all that we need. If we seek 
anything for ourselves out of him, if we seek anything in 
ourselves as belonging to ourselves ; however holy it may 
appear to us, we are liars, and the truth is not in us ; we 
deceive ourselves, and shall never be the saints of the 
Lord ; who, having no other holiness than His, have re- 
nounced all arrogance of self 

'' Holy Father ! I have given back into thy hands those 
whom thou hast given me. Keep them in thy truth, that 
that which is false should not at all come nigh them. To 
attribute the least thing to self, or to think ourselves able 
to do anything of ourselves, or that we possess anything 
of ourselves, is to be in that which is false — in a lie. Cause 
them to know, O my God ! that this is that truth of which 
thou art very jealous. All language that departs from this 
principle is falsehood ; he that approaches it, approaches 
the truth ; but he that says ' all of God, and nothing of the 
creature,' is in the truth, and the truth dwells in him ; for 
self and arrogancy being banished from that soul, the truth 
must needs abide there. 

" My children, receive this instruction from your mother, 
and it will procure you life. Receive it through her, but 
not as from her, or as belonging to her, but as from God 
and belonging to God. 

"In Jesus, amen. I will sing of the righteousness of 
the Lord forever." 

With these fervent aspirations she concludes the account 
of her own life. Are these the sentiments of a criminal — 
of one worthy of incarceration in one of the most dreadful 
of all prisons ? Are they not rather the outpourings of a 
soul which had come out of great tribulation, whose gar- 



428 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

ments had been made white in the blood of the Lamb, and 
which was soon to be called before the throne of God, to 
sing, Great and marvellous are thy works. Lord, God, Al- 
mighty, just and true are all thy ways, thou King of saints ! 
Who shall not fear before thee, and glorify thy name; for 
thou only art holy ! 

She had a long and painful illness. It was probably 
during this sickness that she wrote, as follows, to one of 
her friends, as given by Upham. — "I can only say at 
present, my dear friend, that my physical sufferings are 
very severe, and almost without intermission. It is im- 
possible for me, without a miraculous interposition, to con- 
tinue long in this world under them. I solicit your prayers 
to God, that I may be kept faithful to Him in these last 
hours of my trials. 

" Last night, in particular, my pains were so great, as to 
call into exercise all the resources and aids of faith. God 
heard the prayer of his poor sufferer ; Grace was triumphant. 
It is trying to nature ; but I can say in this last struggle, 
that 1 love the hand that smites me." 

She died in peace, early in the summer of It 17, aged 
about sixty-nine years. 



CHAPTER XYIIL 

WILLIAM DELL. 



William Dell was an Episcopal minister, and rector of 
Yelden, in Bedfordshire, England. Of his early life we 
have no account. While at Yelden, in the year 1645, and 
during the religious agitations which followed the expulsion 
of Charles I. and the establishment of the Commonwealth, 



WILLIAM DELL. 429 

be published a treatise, entitled " Christ's Spirit a Chris- 
tian's Strength," His object in this discourse was to show 
that the Spirit of Christ is absolutely necessary in the 
church, to furnish with power to overcome the world, and 
that a dependence on human strength and learning, without 
the unction of this Spirit, can only lead into "the form of 
godliness," as distinguished from "the power" thereof. 
This doctrine pervades all his subsequent writings. The 
tenor of his views in this work, very contrary to the preva- 
lent dogmas of that time, maybe gathered from the follow- 
ing brief extracts: 

"The receiving of the Spirit," says he, "is the receiving 
of power. ['Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Ghost 
is come upon you.'] Till we receive the Spirit, we are alto- 
gether without power ; and when we receive the Spirit, 
then first of all, do we receive power — power from on high. 
By nature we are all without strength, weak, impotent 
creatures, utterly unable to do anything that is truly and 
spiritually righteous and good." 

"The Spirit is power operatively in us, by being in us a 
spirit of knowledge. For the Holy Spirit teaches us to 
know ' the things that are freely given to us of God ;' yea, 
he teaches us to know what sin is, and what righteousness; 
what death is, and what life ; what heaven is, and what 
hell ; what ourselves are, and what God is. And these 
things be teaches us to know otherwise than other men 
know them." 

He maintains that this gift of the Spirit is common to 
all true Christians, and that all must needs have it, if they 
are really in the life and power of Christianitj^; but that 
for ministers of the gospel it is especially necessary. 

" The ministers of the gospel must needs have this power 
of the Holy Spirit, because otherwise they are not sufficient 
for the ministry. For no man is sufficient for the work of 

19* 



430 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

the ministry, by any natural parts and abilities of his own, 
nor yet by any acquired parts of human learning and knowl- 
edge ; but only by this power of the Holy Spirit ; and till 
he be endued with this, notwithstanding all his other ac- 
complishments, he is altogether insufficient. And therefore, 
the very apostles were to keep silence, till they were endued 
with this power. They were to wait at Jerusalem till they 

had received the promise of the Spirit Without this 

power of the Spirit, ministers are utterly unable to preach 
the word ; that is, the true, spiritual and living word of God. 
For to preach this word of God, requires the power of God. 
One may speak the word of man, by the power of man ; 
but he cannot speak the word of God, but by the power of 
God." 

"Human reason, and human wisdom, and righteousness, 
and power, and knowledge, cannot receive the Holy Spirit. 
But we must be emptied of these, if ever we would receive 

Him And when a man is thus empty of himself, 

and of other things, then he becomes ' poor in spirit ;' and 
such the Spirit fills, and descends into with a wonderful 
and irresistible power, and fills the outer and inner man, 
and all the faculties of the soul, with himself and all the 
things of God." 

And he winds up the whole by the following' remark: — 
"We must ascribe to the Spirit the whole glory of his own 
works, and acknowledge that we ourselves are nothing, and 
can do nothing ; and that it is He onl}^ that is all in all, 
and works all in all. And we ourselves, among all the 
excellent works of the Spirit in us, must so remain as if we 
were and wrought nothing at all ; that so, all that is of flesh 
and blood may be laid low in us, and the Spirit alone may 
be exalted; first, to do all in us, and then, to have all the 
glory of all that is done." .... 

"And by the daily use and improvement of these means, 



WILLIAM DELL. 431 

we may attain to a great degree of spiritual strength, that 
we may walk and not be weary, and may run and not faint, 
and may mouut up as eagles, yea, and may walk as angels 
among men, and as the powers of heaven upon earth; to 
His praise and honor, who first communicates to us his 
own strength, and then, by that strength of his own, works 
all our works in us. And thus is He glorified in his saints, 
and admired in all that believe." 

In a treatise put forth probably soon afterward, he argues 
that the true spiritual church of Christ is composed of living 
stones — precious stones — "and therefore," says he, "the 
Lord calls them [the faithful] his jewels — ' In the day 
wherein I make up my jewels' — and elsewhere they are 
called 'the precious sons of Zion.' The people of God are 
a most precious people, men and women of a precious 
anointing; though some wicked and scurrilous libellers 
against the spiritual church will not allow them this name, 
but reproach it. And yet still it is a truth, that the gates of 
hell shall not prevail against, that the truly faithful are 
precious stones in the building of the church, partaking of 
the nature and Spirit of God." 

But though these true members of Christ have all re- 
ceived of the same anointing, yet " let us not expect all 
gifts in all nien, and that every man should excel in every 
gift; for then one would be saying to another, 'I have no 

need of thee.' " "If thou hast the gift of utterance 

in the ministration of the Spirit, it is to build me up. If I 
have the spirit of prayer, it commends thee as carefully to 
God as myself One watches over another, as over his 
own soul. And if any be weak, the strong support them ; 
if any be doubtful, they that have the gift of knowledge 
direct them ; if one be troubled, the rest mourn with him ; 
if one be comforted, the rest rejoice with him ; and they are 
all so linked together in the body of Christ, that the good 



432 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

and evil of one extends to all. Where thou canst find such 
another communion, there join thyself. But if this be the 
only excellent communion in the world, who would not 
willingly join himself to that spiritual people, where no 
man calls his grace his own, but all gifts are in common 
among all", every one having a share in the faith, hope, love, 
prayer, peace, joy, wisdom, strength of all; and all having 
a share in these gifts and graces, that are in any one ? 
And thus much for the diversity of the stones, as well as 
for the preciousness of them." 

And further on, in the same work, he says : " Now we 
perceive how few true children of the church there be among 
those commonly called Christians. For among all these, 
how few are there who have the teaching of God! But 
most have their teaching only from men, and no higher. 
Consider therefore, I pray, whether the knowledge you 
have be from the teaching of God, or the teaching of man. 
You all pretend to know that Christ is the Son of the living 
God, and that redemption and salvation is by him alone. 
But how came ye by this knowledge ? Did you read it in 
the letter, or did somebody tell you so, or hath God himself 
taught you this? For 'no man knoweth the Son but the 
Father, and he to whom the Father will reveal him.'" . . . 
"Oh, consider whether you have the teaching of God in 
these things or no. And if you have not the teaching of 
God, you are none of the children of the church; whatever 
truth thou knowest from the letter, if thou hast not the 
teaching of the Spirit, it will do thee no good; thou know- 
est not anything spiritually and savingly, wherein thou 
hast not the teaching of God. 'All thy children shall be 
taught of the Lord.'" 

In the year 1646, Wm. Dell preached a sermon before 
the House of Commons, on the Right Reformation of the 
phiirch; wherein, after contrasting inward and spiritual 



WILLIAM DELL. 433 

with outward, civil, and ecclesiastical reformation, he earn- 
estly appealed to the Parliament, to stop all persecution 
and attempts to force men's consciences by the power of 
the magistrate ; showing* that this can never produce true 
reformation, but only outward conformity, with inward and 
dangerous dissatisfaction. 

Among many other excellent sentiments, he boldly held 
forth to them the following language : 

"It is an inward reformation [that is needed]. For as 
the kingdom of God is an inward kingdom ('the kingdom 
of God is within you'), so the reformation that belongs to 
it is an inward reformation. This true gospel reformation 
lays hold upon the heart, and soul, and inner man; and 
changes, and alters, and renews, and reforms that; and 

when the heart is reformed, all is reformed And, 

therefore, saith Christ, touching the worship of the New 
Testament, 'God is a Spirit; and they that worship him 
must worship him in spirit and in truth;' but speaks not 
one word of any outward form. So that God, in this gos- 
pel reformation, aims at nothing but the heart, according 
to the tenor of -the new covenant : 'This shall be the cov- 
evant that I will make with them after those days, saith 
the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and 
write it in their hearts' (Jer. xxxi. 33) ; so that they shall 
not only have the word of the letter in their books, but the 
living Word of God in theft hearts ; and God, intending to 
reform the church, begins with their hearts ; and, intending 
to reform their hearts, puts his Word there ; and that living 
W^ord put into the heart reforms it indeed." 

"The word whereby Christ reforms, is not the word 
without us, as the word of the law is ; but the word within 
us, as it is written, ' The Word is nigh thee, even in thy 
mouth, and in thy heart;' and this is the 'word of faith.* 
If thou live under the word many years, and if it come not 



434 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

into thy heart, it will never change thee, nor reform thee. 
And, therefore, the reforming Word is the Word within ns, 
and the word within us is Hhe word of faith.'" 

" Forcible reformation is unbeseeming the gospel ; for the 
gospel is the gospel of peace, and not of force and fury. 
Civil ecclesiastical reformation reforms by breathing out 
threatenings, punishments, prisons, fire, and death ; but the 
gospel, by preaching peace. And therefore it is most un- 
beseeming the gospel to do anything rashly and violently 
for the advancement thereof, for the gospel of peace is not 
to be advanced by violence ; and therefore violent reform- 
ers live in contradiction to the gospel of peace, and cannot 
be truly reckoned Christians, but enemies to Christianity; 
since Christianity doth all by the power of the anointing, 
but anti-christianity doth all by the power of the world. 
Forcible reformation is unsuitable to Christ's kingdom, for 
Christ's kingdom stands in the Spirit ; and the force of 
flesh and blood can contribute nothing to this." 

Toward the close of his discourse, he thus pleads with 
the Parliament : " I have a few more things to say, touch- 
ing God's kingdom : — 1. That as Christ's kingdom and the 
kingdoms of the world are distinct, so you would be 
pleased to keep them so ; and not mingle them together 
yourselves, nor suffer others to do it, to the great prejudice 
and disturbance of both. 

*' 2. That you would be pleased to think that Christ's 
kingdom (which is not of this world) hath sufficient power 
in itself to manage all the affairs of it, without standing in 
need of any aid or help from the world ; seeing the power 
of man is of no place or use in the kingdom of God, which 
is not a temporal, or an ecclesiastical dominion, but a 
spiritual. 

" 3. That you would suffer the little stone of Christ's 
kingdom to be hewn out of the mountain of the Roman 



WILLIAM DELL. 435 

monarchy (whereof this kingdom is a part) without hands, 
even by the power and efficacy of the Word and Spirit ; 
seeing the hands of man cannot help, but hinder this work, 
which is to be done without hands 

*' 4. That you would be pleased to suffer the assemblings 
of the saints, both publicly and privately, as occasion 
serves, seeing this can be no prejudice to the State, but a 
great advantage ; inasmuch as they meet peaceably, and 
make no tumults, and in their assembling pray for the 
peace and welfare of this divided and distracted kingdom. 
And also that you take heed of scattering those churches 
that meet in the name and Spirit of Jesus Christ (which 
are Christ's own gatherings together), lest Christ so scat- 
ter you abroad that you never be gathered together again." 

'' When I see the generality of the people of all 

sorts rise up against the ministration of the Spirit, which 
God hath now in these days of ours set up, .... I am 
then exceedingly distressed, and pained at the very heart, 
for thee, England ! and for all thy cities and towns and 
inhabitants ; for thou that dashest against the Spirit in 
the gospel, how shalt thou be dashed in pieces thyself, and 
there shall be no healing for thee !" 

And in another address to the Parliament, he tells them : 
" It shall be your wisdom to be built up, together with the 
church, on Christ; but it would be your confusion to go 
about to build the church on yourselves and your power; 
seeing this building is too weighty for any foundation but 
Christ himself ... It will be no less dangerous an evil, 
for the magistrate to make himself lord and lawgiver in the 
church, than for the pope, or general council, in all the 
kingdoms called Christian ; as for the archbishop or na- 
tional assembly in particular kingdoms. . . . Wherefore do 
you look to the care of the State, and trust Christ with the 
care of his church, seeing he is both faithful and able to 



436 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

save it perfectly. . . . Why should the church any longer 
be ignorant of the things that belong unto its peace ? And 
why should the members of it any longer lie as scattered 
bones, dry and dead, and not gathered up into the unity of 
a living body?" 

About this time, or soon after, appears to have been 
published one of his largest as well as most clear and 
deeply spiritual works, entitled ''The Way of True Peace 
and Unity in the True Church of Christ;" which also was 
addressed to the Parliament, and likewise to General Fair- 
fax and Oliver Cromwell. It was a time of great agitation 
among all classes of professors of religion — the country 
was full of commotions and changes, so that he said " there 
was no silence in heaven for so much as half an hour" — 
none of the high-soaring rulers of the various professing 
churches knew what it was to come into that silence of 
all fleshly tumults and impulses, wherein they might have 
experienced Jerusalem to be a quiet habitation, a place of 
safety from the powers and storms of the world. 

In this work on the Peace and Unity of the Church, he 
entirely disavows any aim to reconcile the true church of 
Christ with the world ; for, says he, the Lord never in- 
tended such reconciliation between the seed of the woman 
and the seed of the serpent; neither does he endeavor to 
bring about an agreement between the children of Ishmael 
and those of Isaac, in the professing church; for "they 
that are born after the flesh," says Dell, '* are always per- 
secuting them that are born after the Spirit, but never agree- 
ing with them." But he says, "the Avay of peace I shall 
speak of, is between the children of peace, touching whom 
God hath promised that He will give them one heart and 
one way ; and for whom Christ hath prayed, ' That they 
all may be one, as thou. Father, art in me, and I in thee, 
that thev also mav be one in us,' " 



WILLIAM DELL. 431 

. . . "The peace then I seek by this discourse, is the 
peace of the true church." Aud this true church he describes 
as "a spiritual and invisible fellowship, gathered together 
in the unity of faith, hope, and love, and so into the unity 

of the Son, and of the Father by the Spirit." ''The 

true church is knit into their society among themselves by 
being first knit unto Christ their head; and as soon as ever 
they are one with him, they are also one with another in 
him; and not first one among themselves, and then one 

with Christ." And again he says, " The churches of 

men have human officers who act in the strength of natural 
or acquired parts, who do all by the help of study, learning, 
and the like. But in the true church, Christ and the Spirit 
are the only officers, and men only so far as Christ and 
the Spirit dwell and manifest themselves in them. And so, 
when they do anything in the church, it is not they that do 
it, but Christ and his Spirit in them and by them. And 
therefore saith Paul, ' Seek ye a proof of Christ speaking 
in me ? which to y onwards is not weak, but mighty.' Who- 
ever is the instrument, Christ is the only preacher of the 
New Testament; and that which is the true gospel, is 
the ministration of the Spirit; for 'holy men spake as they 
were moved by the Holy Spirit;' and were first anointed 

with the Spirit, before they preached." "Against 

the churches of men, the gates of hell (which are sin and 
death) shall certainly prevail: but the true church of 
Christ, though the gates of hell do always fight against it, 
yet they shall never prevail against it; as Christ hath 
promised, 'Upon this rock I will build my church, and the 
gates of hell shall not prevail against it.' " 

" Christ was known [to John Baptist] by the Spirit's 

resting on him After the same manner the church 

of Christ is known, to wit, by the Spirit's coming and re- 
maining on it. So that whatever people have received the 



438 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

Spirit of Christ, of what sort or condition soever they be, 
they are the church of Christ ; and they that are destitute 
of this Spirit, are not of the church." 

"They that do content themselves in joining to some 
outward and visible society and corporation of men, though 
called a church, and think that by being knit to th^m in 
ways of outward worship and ordinances, they live in the 
unity of the church, when as yet, all this while, they live 
out of that one body that is born of the Spirit, which is 
the only true church, and body of Christ — he that lives out 
of this spiritual body, though he live in the most excellent 
society in the world, yet he breaks the unity of the church, 
not living in one body with it." 

''Hence it is evident, that it is- nothing to have the out- 
ward form of a church, even as our souls could wish, ex- 
cept there be inwardly, in that church, the Spirit of Christ. 
For it is not unity of form, will ever make the church one, 
but unity of Spirit. That church then that is destitute of 
the Spirit, in its laws, orders, constitutions, forms, mem- 
bers, and of&cers ; what unity can that have, in all its uni- 
formity?" 

"They that, being of the church, do anything in it by 
their own spirits, and not by Christ's, prejudice the peace 
of the chui'ch ; for the true church is such a body, which is 
to have all its communion in the Spirit. And therefore, 
when any pray or prophesy, or the like, in the strength of 
natural parts, or human studies and invention only, and do 
not pray and prophesy in the Spirit, they break the unity 
of the church ; for the faithful have communion with one 
another, only so far as the Spirit is manifested in each." 

"One Lord, one faith, one baptism." "The true 

church, which is the body of Christ, hath but one and the 
self-same baptism, by which it is purified; which is the 
baptism of the Spirit. For the apostle speaks here of that 



WILLIAM DELL. 439 

baptism, wherein the whole church is one; which is not 
the bapiism of the sign, which "hath often been altered and 
changed, but the baptism of the substance, which compre- 
hends all believers, and all ages, and under several and 
various dispensations; and was the same before Christ's 
coming in the flesh, as since ; believers, both of the Jews 
and Gentiles, of the Old and New Testaments, drinking all 
alike into one spirit, though these more plentifullv than 
those. So that, though many have wanted the baptism of 
water, yet not one member of the true church hath wanted 
the baptism of the Spirit, from whence our true Christianity 

begins." "So that it is not the washing of water, but 

the washing of the Spirit, that is the true ground of the 
true church's unity ; and they that want this baptism of 
the Spirit, though they have been baptized with water 
never so much, live quite out of the unity of the church." 

" The right church is the city of God, and hath God in 
the midst of it, being built and framed, and that according 
to every part of it, by the Spirit, to be the habitation of 
God. This is ' the temple of the living God,' as God hath 
said, and God is in it of a truth. And if any would know 
what this church is called, the name of it is, The Lord is 
THERE. And so the whole guiding and ordering of this 
church depends wholly on God, who dwells within it. For 
God will not dwell in his own church and sit still, while 
others that are without it shall govern it; but the govern- 
ment of the right church lies on His shoulders, who is 
Immanuel, God with us, and in us." 

'' Peter had said to Christ, ' Thou art Christ, the Son of 
the living God:' and Christ replied to Peter, ' Blessed art 
thou ; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, 
but my Father which is in heaven;' and then adds, 'unto 
thee will I give the keys of the kingdom of heaven,' etc. — 
that is, not to Peter, as an apostle, or minister, but as a 



440 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

believer, who had the revelation of the Father, touching 
the Son. And so also, they are given equally to each faith- 
ful Christian, who hath the same revelation with Peter, as 
also to the whole communion of saints." 

''What officers are to be chosen? Paul teaches us this; 
saying. They must be faithful men, apt and able to teach 
others. For as, among natural men of the world, they that 
have most natural power and abilities, are fittest to be the 
officers ; so among spiritual men in the church, they are 
fittest to be the officers, that have most spiritual power, 
that is, such in whom Christ and the Spirit are most mani- 
fest; and of this, the faithful of all sorts are judges. Where- 
fore, no natural parts and abilities, nor human learning and 
degrees in the schools or universities, nor ecclesiastical 
ordination or orders, are to be reckoned sufficient to make 
a man a minister; but only the teaching of God, and gifts 
received of Christ, by the Spirit, for the work of the min- 
istry, which the faithful are able to discern and judge of." 

He adds that these officers "are to be chosen out of the 
flock of Christ, and nowhere else. Indeed antichrist, bring- 
ing in human learning instead of the Spirit, chose his min- 
isters only out of the universities ; but the right church 
chooses them out of the faithful ; seeing it reckons no man 
learned, and so fit to speak in the church, but, he that hath 
'heard and learned from the Father.' " 

" The true church is to preserve itself distinct from the 
world; and is neither to mingle itself with the world, nor 
to suffer the world to mingle itself with it. For if the 
church and the world be mingled together in one society, 
the same common laws will no more agree to them who 
are of such different natures, principles, and ends, than the 
same common laws will agree to light and darkness, life 
and death, sin and righteousness, flesh and spirit. For the 
true church are a spiritual people, being born of God ; and 



WILLIAM DELL. 441 

SO they worship God in the spirit, according to the law of 
the Spirit of life that was in Christ, and is in them. But 
the carnal church is of the world, and only savors of the 
world, and so will have a worldly religion, forms, orders, 
government, and all worldly as itself is. Now, while these 
two are mingled together, what peace can there be ?" 

''By what means may the church be able to keep out 
error ? — 1. Let the church suffer none to teach among 
them that are not themselves taught of God ; though they 
have never so great natural parts, and never so much 
human learning. For, when they are the teachers that 
are taught of God, they will only teach the truth, which 
they have heard and learned from God ; and the line of 
every man's teaching must extend no further. But when 
they teach that are not so taught, they will, in many things, 
vary from the truth as it is in Jesus." 

"2. Let the church examine everything — and not re- 
ceive doctrines on trust — and compare the present doctrine, 
preached and printed, and generally received, with the doc- 
trines of the prophets and apostles, which without doubt is 
sure and certain, seeing those ' holy men of God spake as 
they were moved by the Holy Spirit.' And whatever doc- 
trine shall be found contrary to, or diflferent from that doc- 
trine, let them'reject it as reprobate silver." 

"3. The church, that it may be able to keep out errors, 
must desire of God the Spirit which he hath promised; 
that this Spirit of truth may lead them into the true and 
spiritual knowledge of the word, and understanding of the 
mind of Christ. For no man can make any right judgment 
of the word he hears or reads, without the teaching of the 
Spirit. And by this anointing, as we shall be certainly 
taught which is truth, so also shall we discern which is 
error, and that by so clear and true a light, that we shall 
not mistake." 



442 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

"4. Another notable means to keep error out of the 
church, is to restore in it that most ancient gospel ordi- 
nance of prophesying; which, how much soever it hath 
been out of use during the reign of antichrist, yet is no 
other than the very commandment of the Lord ; as Paul 
witnesseth, I. Cor. xiv. 31, where he saith, 'When the 
whole church is met together, ye may all prophesy one by 
one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted,' etc." 

"Through the exercise of prophesying, the church knows 
and discerns which of its members are most spiritual and 
most clearly taught of God in divine things ; and who have 
received the most excellent gifts from Christ, and so are 
most fit and able to hold forth the word of life, in most evi- 
dence and power of the Spirit, that so the church may be 
supplied with pastors of her own sons, and not seek after 
unknown persons ; nor be constrained to use mercenary 
men, who have been brought up to preaching, as their 
trade to live by ; whereupon but few of them can be ex- 
pected to be other than hirelings, who will make their min- 
istry serve their own advantage, and frame the Scripture to 
found such doctrine as may best serve their own turns." . . . 

''Yea, further, in this society, God will have him who is 
most unlearned, according to human literature, to speak; 
that the virtues of Christ may the more evidently appear 
in the saints; and the knowledge of heavenly and divine 
truths may not be attributable to gifts, parts, learning or 
studies, but only to His Spirit ; which can even in a mo- 
ment teach the ignorant, and make the simple wise, and 
open the mouths of babes and sucklings, yea, and the very 
dumb, to perfect his praise by." 

" It will be objected — Yea, but if every one have liberty to 
speak in the church, will not this breed great confusion and 
disturbance ? I answer, no ; not in the true church, which 
are a people met in the name of Christ, and who have 



WILLIAM DELL. 443 

Christ himself present in the midst of them ; and so e^ery 
one demeans himself answerably to the presence of Christ; 
that is, in the wisdom, meekness, and modesty of the Spirit. 
And there also every one speaks, not after the rashness of 
his own brain, but according to the revelation of God ; as 
it is written, 'If anything be revealed to another, let the 
first hold his peace ;' so that no man is to speak here but 
by revelation, or an inward teaching and discovery of God. 
And where men speak thus, as the true church is to speak, 
there can be no confusion, but most excellent order and de- 
cency. Yea, God himself, who is not the author of confu- 
sion, but of peace, in all the churches of the saints, hath 
appointed and commanded prophesying as the way of 
peace ; and, therefore, do not thou dare to say it is the way 
of confusion, seeing God knows better how to order the 
affairs of his own church than thou dost." 

The above extracts will afford a little glimpse at the 
truly Christian doctrine advocated in this treatise, a treat- 
ise which must have sorely grated on the ears of those who 
were interested in the maintenance of a religion of mere 
outside form, so framed as to gain the favor of the world, 
without subjection to the cross of Christ. 

The next treatise in the order in which the successive 
pieces appear in his printed works, and probably the next 
in the order of their original publication, is one which ap- 
pears to have been put forth after his appointment as Mas- 
ter of Gonville and Caius College in the University of Cam- 
bridge. It is the first in which he so designates himself 
in the title. This is a discourse on " The crucified and 
quickened Christian," the substance of which, founded on 
Gal. ii. 19, 20, Was spoken at the residence of Oliver Crom- 
well, and was afterward more amply delivered to a con- 
gregation in Cambridge. He herein argues, in accordance 
with the apostle's teaching, that the true Christian must 



444 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 



be indeed crucified as to the affections and lusts of fallen 
nature, that he may know what it is to arise with Christ, 
to have Christ living in him, and to live by the faith of the 
Son of God. He says, among other things : 

" Let us know, that it is not enough to salvation, to be- 
lieve that Jesus Christ, according to his human nature, 
was outwardly crucified on a cross at Jerusalem for us, ex- 
cept we also be crucified with him, through his living 
word and Spirit dwelling in us ; through which we must 
be powerfully planted into a true likeness of his death, in 
such sort that we must be dead unto all sin whatever, 
even to all our own corruptions and lusts, and to all the 
corruptions that are in the world through lust; and we 
must be dead to ourselves, to our own fleshly reason, un- 
derstanding, will, desires, ends, and to our own human 
life ; and we must be dead to the world, and to all that is 
in it and of it; to all ther pleasures, profits, and honors of 
it ; we must thus truly be dead with Christ, ere we can 
live with him." 

"Seeing Christ himself lives in all true believers, let us 
all, who profess ourselves to be such, so live, that Christ 
may be seen to live in us, more than ourselves; that they 
that have known us, may know us no more, but may know 
Christ in us ; and that they that have communion with us, 
may acknowledge Christ himself speaking, working, and 
living his own life in us, in all self-denial, humility, holi- 
ness, love, resignation of ourselves to the will of God, and 
in all diligence to do the work of God, and readiness to 
suffer the will of God." 

This publication, advocating too thorough a work in the 

soul, to be pleasing to the lovers of easy religion, drew 

forth a certain Humphrey Chambers, "Doctor in Divinity 

"and Pastor of Pewsy," who published "Animadversions" 

on the doctrine promulgated by Dell. The latter there- 



n 



WILLIAM DELL. 445 

fore came forth with a treatise entitled ''The Stumbling- 
Stone," showing how it was that carnal professors, and 
hangers on to the authority of universities in matters of 
religion, should be offended with sound Christian doctrine. 
In this work he spares not to speak boldly for the spiritual 
qualification of ministers of the gospel, and against a min- 
istry of university appointment, quoting Huss and Luther 
in support of his positions. 

"By this," says he, speaking of the very weak and un- 
sound "Animadversions" published by Chambers, "the 
true church may judge also, what a sad ministry these 
poor nations have received from antichrist's ordination, 
when the chief doctors, the very Scribes and Pharisees 
among the clergy, do not know the very first principles of 
the gospel in any spiritual light, or by any teaching from 
God; but all their cold, faint, and uncertain doctrine they 
scrape from fathers and schoolmen, and from other ordi- 
nary systems of divinity; without any presence of faith, 
or anointing of the Spirit: whereby all their doctrine be- 
comes carnal and corrupt, and contrary to Christ's mind, 
and agreeable to antichrist's. So that I cannot choose but 
conclude with John Huss, 'that all the clergy must be 
quite taken away, ere the church of Christ can have any 
true reformation.' "* 

In this work he reasserts his position that Christ alone, 
by his Spirit, can qualify any to preach the gospel ; saying 
" He chose fishermen, and tent-makers, and publicans, plain 
men, and of ordinary employment in the world ; and only 
put his Spirit on them, and this was their sufficient unction 
to the ministry. And thus it was foretold by Joel (chap, 
ii. 28), 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith 
the Lord, that I will pour out of my Spirit on all flesh, and 
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. ' There needs 
* Joan. Hus. De Vita et regn. antichrist., cap. 37. 

20 



446 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

nothing to the ministry of the New Testament, but only 
God's pouring out his Spirit. Wherefore Christ bids his 
disciples stay at Jerusalem till they should receive the 
promise of the Spirit, and then they should go forth and 
teach." And again, — after quoting I, Cor. ii. 8-10, — ''We 
learn that the things of the gospel, and of the Kingdom of 
God, are not known at all, nor discerned in the least meas- 
ure, but by God's Spirit ; which Spirit is given to all that 
believe ; and this Spirit alone is sufficient, both to enable 
us to know clearly and certainly the things of God, and also 
to publish them to others ; and nothing of man, or the 
creature, can add to it. Wherefore, when Christ chose his 
ministers, he chose not the wise and learned, but plain sim- 
ple men ; that it might appear to all the world, throughout 
all ages, how infinitely able the unction of his Spirit alone 
is, without any addition of anything else, for the ministry 
of the New Testament. And Christ breaks forth (Matt. xi. 
25) into this thanksgiving : ' I thank thee, O Father, Lord 
of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the 
wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes ; even 
so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight, ' " . . . . 

''Now at these things how grievously are the worldly 
wise, and deep learned ones (as they esteem themselves) 
offended ; that God's Spirit alone should be , a sufficient 
unction for the ministry of the New Testament, and that 
God should, on set purpose, lay aside the wise and prudent 
men, and choose babes, and out of their mouths ordain his 
great strength, to set up Christ's kingdom in the world, 
and to destroy antichrist's ! Yea, this doctrine will chiefly 
offend the university." 

" Let us consider, that it is no new thing that Christ and 
his gospel should be stumbled at, and contradicted by the 
world and worldly church. For thus it was foretold by 
the prophets, and thus it hath been done ever since Christ 



WILLIAM DELL. 447 

was manifested in the flesh. In the days of his ministry, 
his doctrine was so contrary to carnal reason, and the hu- 
man apprehensions of men in matters of religion, that many 
of his disciples said, 'This is a hard saying, who can bear 
it?' Yea, many of his disciples murmured at his doctrine, 
and went back, and walked no more Avith him. And all 
along, during Christ's ministry, many were snared, and 
stumbled, and fell, and were broken thereby; and he that 
is troubled and offended at this, must get him another 
Christ, and another gospel; for the true Christ is set for a 
sign to be spoken against ; and the true gospel is set for a 
word of contention and contradiction to the carnal Chris- 
tians and to the whole world." 

But of all the writings of this intrepid reformer, excepting 
his direct attacks upon the universities, perhaps no one 
was more calculated to provoke the animosity of the advo- 
cates of formality, and especially of those who were con- 
scious that "by this craft they had their wealth," than his 
short but cogent and unanswerable treatise, " The Doctrine 
of Baptisms, reduced from its ancient and modern cor- 
ruptions, and restored to its primitive soundness and integ- 
rity ;" in which he rescues that great and grossly abused 
doctrine from the hands of the priests, and shows conclu- 
sively from the Scriptures that baptism belongs to the One 
great High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, through 
the operation of the Holy Spirit ; and that the baptism of 
water, which was John's, was merely preparatory and to 
pass away, to make room for that of Christ, with the Holy 
Ghost and fire. We cannot here undertake to follow up 
his reasoning; but a few extracts may suffice to show the 
scope and tendency of his argument. 

He adduces John's own clear acknowledgment of the 
superior character of the baptism of Christ; ''saying, '1 
indeed baptize you with water,' that is, my baptism is but 



448 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

water baptism, that washes the body only with a corporeal 
element ; but ' one mightier than I cometh ;' for I am but a 
creature, He the power of God ; I but a servant, He the 
Lord of all ; and one so infinitely excellent above all that I 
am, that 'the latchet of his shoes I am not worthy to un- 
loose ;' that is, I am unworthy to perform the meanest and 

lowest office for him He shall baptize you with the 

Holj^ Ghost and with fire ; that is, I that am a servant do 
baptize with water ; but He that is the Son, baptizes with 
the Spirit ; my baptism washes but the body from the filth 
of the flesh ; but his, the soul from the filth of sin ; so that, 
by how much the Spirit excels water, and God the creature, 
so much his baptism transcends mine." 

He goes on to show the great and essential distinction 
between John's baptism and that of Christ, and that 
though the former was honorable in itself and excellent in 
its place, being especially honored by Christ himself, as a 
man, submitting to it, as he did also to circumcision, for the 
fulfilment of all righteousness ; yet that it could not give 
repentance nor remission of sins, nor any entrance into the 
kingdom of God ; but that Christ's baptism, which is of the 
Spirit, gives a new nature, translates into the church and 
kingdom of God, teaches us by the divine anointing, enables 
those who partake of it ''to put on Christ," truly washes 
and cleanses from sin, dips us into the death of Christ, 
makes us one with Christ, the Head, and saves us "by the 
washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost." 

"The baptism of John," says Dell, "was but a sign and 
ceremony, though it had more life and light in it than any 
of the signs of the law, as being nearer to Christ, and more 
newly revived by God ; and so, though useful in its season, 
yet the efficacy of it (after the manner of signs) was but 
weak. For first, it did not give the Spirit, not one drop of 
the Spirit ; yea, some who were baptized with John's bap- 



WILLIAM DELL. 449 

tism did not know the way of the Lord perfectly ; that is, 
had no certain knowledge of Christ, the only way to God, 
as Apollos (Acts, xviii.); yea, some of them did not so much 
as know whether there were any Holy Ghost or not, as 
those twelve disciples (Acts, xix.), — much less had received 
the Spirit." 

"And thus you see that the baptism of John, as it is 
distinct from Christ's, so it is far inferior to his. And 
therefore great hath been the mistake of many, for several 
ages, who have made John's baptism equal to Christ's ; 
for what is this but to make the servant equal to the 
Lord, and to set down the creature in the throne of the 
only begotten of the Father ? Yea, and it is quite pervert- 
ing of John's office ; for John was to be 'a burning and a 
shining light,' to usher in Christ, the true light. He was 
to be as the morning star, to usher in Christ, the Sun of 
Kighteousness ; and was not to be so much clouds and 
darkness to obscure him. He was but to point out Christ, 
and depart again, and not to sit in equal glory with him, 
on his throne in the New Testament. John said he was 
not worthy to bear his shoes ; and therefore they do not 
well, who have prepared an equal crown for him with 
Christ, who is King of kings, and Lord of lords." 

''Objection. Why, this would rob us of our Christianity! 
I answer. No ; for it is not water, but Spirit-baptism that 
makes us Christians ; and water-baptism hath been an un- 
lawful blending or mixing of the church and world to- 
gether ; so that hitherto they could not be well distin- 
guished from each other, to the great prejudice of the 
congregation of Christ." 

" That which seems the strongest objection is, that the 
apostles practised water-baptism, not only before Christ's 
baptism came in, but after 

" True, indeed, the apostles did practise water-baptism, 



450 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS, 

but not from Christ, but from John, whose baptism they 
took up ; and an outward ceremony of honor and account 
is not easil}^ and suddenly laid down ; and hence some of 
the apostles used circumcision, and that after the ascension 
of Christ; for circumcision was an honorable ceremony, 
used from Abraham's time, and so they could not suddenly 
and abruptly leave it off, but did use it for a time, for their 
sakes who were weak, well knowing that the circumcision 
without hands would by degrees put an end to the circum- 
cision made with hands. . . . And so, in like manner, the 
apostles used the baptism of John, or water-baptism, it 
having been of high account in the dawning of the day of the 
gospel, .... but they knew that Spirit or fire-baptism would 
by degrees consume water-baptism, and lick up all the 
drops of it ; for so John himself intimates, saying : ' He 
must increase, but I must decrease !'" 

" Christ's Spirit or fire-baptism is the one and only bap- 
tism of the New Testament, as we find Paul afl&rming, 
Ephes. iv. 6, where he saith, that in Christ's kingdom, where 
is but one body, and one Spirit, and one hope of our call- 
ing, one Lord, and one faith, there is also but 'ev ^ar.rtaiia^ 
one baptism ; and this is the baptism of the Spirit, as 
the apostle elsewhere shows, saying (I. Cor. xii. 13):' For 
by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body, and have 
been all made to drink into one Spirit.' " 

" Now this baptism that makes us one with Christ, makes 
us to partake both of his death and resurrection. Through 
baptism of the Spirit we are dipt into the death of Christ 
(Rom. vi.-o, 4) : ' Know ye not that so many of us as are 
baptized into Jesus Christ are baptized into his death V 
And this is, as the apostle unfolds it (ver. 6), the crucifying 
of the old- man with him, 'that the body of sin may be 
destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.' And 
all this is done, not through any water-washing, but through 



WILLIAM DELL. 451 

the gift of the Spirit ; for it is through the Spirit only, that 
we are able to mortify the deeds of the flesh; and nothing 
but the presence of this Spirit in us is the destruction of 
sin ; so that the Spirit of Christ baptizes us into the death 
of Christ." 

. " ' By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, 
whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or 
free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit' (I. 
Cor. xii. 13). So that, by drinking into one Spirit with the 
church, we become one body with it, and no other ways : 
I say, not by being dipt into the same water, but by re- 
ceiving the same Spirit, do we become one body with the 
church ; and it is not the being of one judgment or opinion, 
or form, or the like, that makes men one true church or 
body of Christ ; but the being of one Spirit ; and none are 
of that church, which is the body of Christ, but those who 
are baptized with that one Spirit of Christ." 

Toward the conclusion, comparing I. Peter, iii. 20, with 
Rom. ii. 28, he remarks that as Paul here puts an end to 
circumcision in the flesh, so Peter there also puts an end to 
baptism in the flesh ; and that the reasoning of the two 
apostles may be thus stated — that he is not a Christian 
who is one outwardly, neither is that baptism which is out- 
ward in the flesh; but he is a Christian who is one inwardly, 
and baptism is that of the heart, in the Spirit, and not in 
the letter, whose praise also is not of men, but of God. . . . 
Christ hath put an end to all outward, carnal, and earthly 
things of the first Testament, by the inward, spiritual, and 
heavenly things of a second and better Testament. And 
by his own death and resurrection only, not without us 
[only] but within us, through the power and efiicacy of his 
Spirit, all the baptism of the New Testament is fully and 
perfectly performed. 

"And thus, in all these particulars, you see the infinite 



452 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

excellency and glory of the Spirit-baptism, above water- 
baptism. And this only is sufficient in the days of the gos- 
pel, as being the true and proper baptism of the New Testa- 
ment. For as Christ himself only, is sufficient to the faith- 
ful without John, though John were of use in his season, 
to point out Christ ; so the baptism of Christ only, is suffi- 
cient to the faithful, without the baptism of John, though 
the baptism of John were of use in its season, to point out 
the baptism of Christ. And the baptist himself was of this 
judgment, who said to Christ, ' I have need to be baptized 
of thee;' which he means, not of water baptism (for so 
Christ himself did not baptize), but of the baptism of the 
Spirit." .... 

'* Now this, it may be, may seem strange and dangerous 
to some of low, and fleshly, and customary religion ; but let 
all such (if it be possible) consider, that where the substance 
comes, the shadow is at an end And if they under- 
stand not this for the present, I hope they may understand 
it afterward ; for we speak not at uncertainties in this point; 
but ' what we have in some measure seen, and felt, and 
handled of the word of life, that we deliver unto you, that 
ye may have fellowship w^ith us ; and truly our fellowship 
is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ,' through 
the Spirit." And he winds up the whole matter, by the 
following remarkable prophetic appeal, in the conclusion of 
the preface to the reader : — 

'' But because I see this present generation so rooted and 
built up in the doctrines of men, I have the less hope that 
this truth will prevail with them. And therefore I appeal 
to the next generation ; which will be further removed from 
those evils, and will be brought nearer to the word ; but 
especially to that people, whom God hath and shull form 
by his Spirit for himself- for these only will be able to 
make just and righteous judgment in this matter, seeing 



I 



WILLIAM DELL. 453 

they have the Anointing to be their teacher, and the Lamb 
to be their lights 

A certain Sydracb Simpson, Master of Pembroke Hall, 
in the University of Cambridge, undertook to controvert 
what he considered dangerous errors in Wm. Dell's doc- 
trines, particularly bis denial of the authority of universities 
to qualify for the ministry of the gospel. In the year 1653 
this man delivered a discourse with this view before the 
University Congregation, at the public Commencement in 
Cambridge. He endeavored to show that the universities 
now were answerable to the schools of the prophets in the 
times of the Old Testament, and were therefore of right 
capable of sending forth gospel teachers — that they who 
endeavored to pull down schools, were always enemies to 
religion, — that " divinity is swaddled in human learning" — 
that Paul was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel — that 
men now are not to receive the Spirit in that immediate 
way, to understand the Scriptures, in which it was given 
to them who wrote the Scriptures — that men now are to 
get knowledge by studies and human learning, and not 
by inspiration — that it is wrong for believers to speak of 
being one with Christ, and partaking of his divine nature, 
whereas they are at an infinite distance from him — that 
arts and tongues are the cups in which God drinks to us! 
— and that when learning goes down, rehgion goes down 
too, so that "religious foundatfons" [i.e. colleges of divinity] 
must be kept up, if we do not wish to go to destruction. 

Whereupon Wm. Dell addressed to the Congregation of 
the University a counter Discourse on ''The Trial of 
Spirits, both in Teachers and Hearers;" which he pub- 
lished, with a Confutation of Simpson's gross and foolish 
errors, and a Brief Testimony against divinity degrees in 
the universities. This altogether was a pretty large work, 
containing much excellent Christian doctrine, but of a na* 

20* 



454 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

ture very similar to his former works noticed above; so 
that we must be satisfied with bringing forward a few de-" 
tached extracts. 

He says : "Had not Christian people thus unchristianly 
delivered up their judgments to the clergy, and that in the 
very highest points of rehgion, Christianity had not been 
so miserably bhuded and corrupted as it is, and the mys- 
tery of iniquity had not so much prevailed in the world 
as now it hath. For when Christians would not try the 
spirits, whether they were of God, and the doctrines, whe- 
ther they were the word of God or no, but thought this 
a matter too high for them, and would refer and submit all 
to the judgment of their ministers; then antichrist (the 
apostle of the devil) came forth boldly, and proudly ex- 
alted himself above all that is called God, and his king- 
dom above all the kingdoms of the world." 

'' The trial of spirits doth unquestionably belong to all 
men who have received the Spirit of God. For to this 
Spirit of God, which dwells in the faithful, the gift of dis- 
cerning spirits is inseparabl}'' annexed ; and the Spirit of 
Christ, which truly dwells in all true Christians, cannot 
deceive, nor be deceived in the trial of spirits. So that 
this now is a common grace, that in some measure belongs 
to all true Christians, who have received the ijnction that 
teacheth them all things, and is truth, and is no lie." 

"Now the true prophets, 'speaking the word of God by 
and in his Spirit, do also speak it in the right sense, and 
after the true mind of Christ; as Paul saith of himself 
and of other behevers who had received the Spirit, ' We 
have the mind of Christ.' But the false prophets, though 
they speak the word of the letter exactly, and that accord- 
ing to the very original, and curiosity of criticisms, yet 
speaking it without the Spirit, they are false prophets be- 
fore God, and his true church; seeing all right prophecy 



WILLIAM DELL. 455 

hath proceeded from the Spirit in all ages of the world, 
but especially it must so proceed in the days of the 'New 
Testament, wherein God hath promised the largest effusion 
of his Spirit." 

In the latter part of the treatise, after making some re- 
marks on the text, ** They are of the world, therefore speak 
they of the world, and the world heareth them," he says : 
'' Hence we may learn, that it is not study, parts, breed- 
ing, learning, nor any natural endowments or acquired ac- 
complishments, that will deliver any man out of this world 
(or corrupt state of mankind), or that can change his na- 
ture, or give him the least place or interest in the kingdom 
of God ; but only a new birth, and true faith in Jesus 
Christ, whereby we are made the children of God ; with- 
out which, men are still of the world, notwithstanding all 
their other improvements." 

In his preface to the Confutation of Simpson, after quot- 
ing Wycliflfe, Huss, Luther, and Melancthon, he says : 
*' Now, as it was necessary that this work [of exposing the 
carnal clergy, and the false pretenses and heathenish instruc- 
tion of the universities of that day] should be done, so, 
through the grace of Christ, was I made willing to do it, 
seeing nobody else more fit and able did appear. And well 
knowing that he that provokes the universities and clergy 
against him, provokes 'principalities and powers, and the 
rulers of the darkness of this world ' against him ; as is evi- 
dent in the example of WyclifPe, Huss, Luther, Tindal, 
and others ; I have, therefore, according to Christ's coun- 
sel, sat down and counted the cost of this undertaking, 
and after all, do say, 'the Lord is on my side, I will not 
fear what man can do unto me.' " 

"If any say, I myself relate [belong] to the univer- 
sity, why then do I speak against it thus? I answer, that 
I neither do, nor will relate to the university, as it is pol- 



456 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

luted with any of the abominations herein mentioned. But 
as, by the providence of God alone. I have been brought to 
that relation in which I now stand, and continue in it, 
against the wills and workings of many ; so, through his 
good pleasure, I will remain, till he shall otherwise dispose 
of me ; and during my sojourning with them, I will not fail 
to testify against their evil, and to endeavor to win all those 
whom God shall persuade to receive his truth, from heath- 
enism to the gospel, and from antichrist to Christ. Where- 
fore, let none be offended that I am made wilhng to hazard 
and part with my worldly accommodations for Christ's 
name's sake. But let them rather praise the grace of God, 
which hath enabled me to witness a good confession, 
whatever worldly disadvantage I might run into thereby. 
Wherefore, welcome the righteousness, power, wisdom, 
truth, word, and whole kingdom of Christ, though they 
swallow up all my earthly accommodations. For such fear 
and love of his name hath the Lord graciously put into my 
heart, that I would not willingly conceal anything of his 
most precious truth, either to gain or to preserve to myself 
the whole world. And so, righteous Father, not my will 
be done, nor theirs, but 'thy will be done in earth as it is 
in heaven.'" 

He then rehearses Simpson's errors, and shows their 
utter inconsistency with sound doctrine, and with the state 
of the facts as regarded the universities; where, though 
professing to teach religion, a vast amount of the falsities 
and impurities of the heathen mythology was daily taught, 
to the great contamination of the morals of the youth sub- 
jected to the influence of such poison. 

In regard to schools, it is well to understand clearly his 
position, as expressed in the following paragraph : 

''True it is, that they who have sought the subversion 
of Christian schools, wherein the doctrine of the gospel is 



WILLIAM DELL. 457 

purely taught, without the mixture of philosophy and 
heathenism, they all have been and are very enemies to 
true religion. But they that seek to put down heathenish 
schools, and to erect Christian, or to reform the schools 
of heathen into Christian, or to remove heathenism out of 
Christian schools, they are not, before God and good men, 
enemies to true religion, but the great friends of it." 

In accordance with these views, in a small treatise on 
''the Right Reformation of Learning," he states his senti- 
ments respecting a Christian education more fully; a part 
of which is as follows : 

"There neither is, nor can be any greater evil, than to 
bring up children in ease and idleness, and to suffer them 
to live freely and without control, according to [their] nat- 
ural lusts and con-uptions," etc. 

"I conceive it meet that the civil power should take 
great care of the education of youth, as one of the great- 
est works that concern them, and as one of the worthiest 
things they can do in the world; inasmuch as what the 
youth now is, the whole commonwealth will shortly be. 

" To this end, it is meet that schools, if wanting, be 
erected throughout the whole nation, and that not only in 
cities and great tov/ns, but also, as much as may be, in 
smaller villages ; and that the authority of the nation take 
great care that godly men especially have the charge of 
greater schools ; and also that no women be permitted to 
teach little children in villages, but such as are the most 
sober and grave ; and that the magistrate afford all suitable 
encouragement and assistance, 

" That in such schools they first teach them to read their 
native tongue, which they speak without teaching; and 
then presently, as they understand, bring them to read the 
Holy Scriptures ; which, though for the present they under- 
stand not, yet may they, through the blessing of God, come 
to understand them afterward. 



458 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

" That in cities and greater towns, where are the greater 
schools, and the greater opportunities to send children to 
them, they teach them also the Latin and Greek tongues, 
and the Hebrew also, which is the easiest of them all, and 
ought to be in great account with us, for the Old Testa- 
ment's sake. And it is most heedfully to be regarded, that 
in teaching youth the tongues, to wit, the Greek and Latin, 
such heathenish authors be most carefully avoided, be their 
language never so good, whose writings are full of the 
fables, vanities, filthiness, lasciviousness, idolatries, and 
wickedness of the heathen. Seeing usually, while youth 
do learn the language of the heathen, they also learn their 
wickedness in that language; whereas it were far better for 
them to want their language, than to be possessed with 
their wickedness. And what should Christian youth have 
to do with the heathenish poets, who were, for the most 
part, the devil's prophets, and delivered forth their writings 
in his spirit ?".... 

"It may be convenient also, that there may be some 
universities or colleges, for the instructing youth in the 
knowledge of the liberal arts, beyond grammar and rheto- 
ric but the mathematics especially are to be had 

in good esteem in universities which, as they carry 

no wickedness in them, so are they besides, very useful to 
human society, and the affairs of this present life." 

He then advocates the scattering of colleges through 
various parts of the nation, and recommends, with Luther, 
that a portion of the education should be devoted to the 
useful arts or some lawful calling; and adds: — "If this 
course were taken in the disposing and ordering col- 
leges and studies, it would come to pass that twenty would 
learn then, where one learns now; and also by degrees, 
many men, on whom God shall please to pour forth his 
Spirit, may grow up to teach the people, while yet they 



WILLIAM DELL. 459 

live in an honest calling and employment, as the apostles 
did. And this would give them great efficacy and power 
in teaching, while they lived by faith, through their honest 
labor, and were delivered from the mischief of idleness." . . . 

''And by this means may the chargeable and burden- 
some maintenance of the carnal clergy, by degrees be taken 
away, and the church of Christ, and the very nations them- 
selves, be supplied with a more faithful. Christian, and 
spiritual ministry than now it hath, at a far less rate. For 
God hath promised, in the last days 'to pour out his Spirit 
on all flesh, and the sons, and daughters, and servants, and 
handmaids, shall prophesy,' and then ' shall knowledge 
cover the earth, as waters do the seas.' " 

But now briefly to return to his Confutation of Simpson's 
Errors — in animadverting on his absurd assumption, that 
all divinity is swaddled in human learning, he conceives 
that all Christians must, at first reading of this, acknowl- 
edge that such doctrine is not divine, but philosophical ; 
and affirms, that "if all divinity be swaddled in human 
learning, all such divinity hath no great depth, seeing the 
bottom of human learning is easily fathomed ;" adding, "I 
conceive he might speak thus, that all divinity is wrapped 
up in human learning, to deter the common people from 
the study and inquiry after it, and to cause them still to 
expect all divinity from the clergy, who, by their education, 
have attained to that human learning which the plain people 
are destitute of For it is the old and new design of anti- 
christ, to make the people depend on the clergy for all 
divinity, though the people have the Scriptures as near 
them, and the grace of Grod usually nearer to them, than 
they; seeing 'God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to 
the humble.' " 

"And now," he reverentially concludes, " blessed Lord 
Jesus, who wast crucified, dead, and buried, but yet art 



460 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

risen from the dead by the eternal Spirit, and art ascended 
on high to fill all things, have mercy on thy poor church, 
which is so grievously rent and torn this day by wolves in 
sheeps' clothing ; and is thus hurt and consumed by poi- 
sonous doctrines of men, who seek themselves, and their 
own things, to the harm and ruin of thy poor people ! 0, 
thou Son of the living God, who art the way, the truth, and 
the life, how shall the kingdom of antichrist be brought 
down, when the hands of such men, who seem pillars in 
the church, are stretched forth so strongly to hold it up ? 
And how shall the days of antichrist be shortened, when 
his kingdom is coming forth again, in the greatest deceiva- 
bleness of unrighteousness that hath ever yet appeared in 
the world to delude the nations ? Lord, remember all 
thy promises, and make haste to destroy Babylon the 
great, with all its mysteries of righteousness and unright- 
eousness, and let it sink as a millstone in the sea, without 
any hope or possibility of a resurrection. And seeing 
there is no hand of man stretched out for this work, but 
all hands are against it ; do thou destroy it, Lord, with- 
out hand, even with the Spirit of thy mouth, and the 
brightness of thy coming, according to the truth of thy 
promises, and the unutterable sighs and groans of thy 
Spirit, occasioned thereby, in the hearts of all thy faithful 
and elect. Even so, Lord, and let thy kingdom come, and 
make no long tarrying. Amen." 

We have no further account of this spiritually-minded 
and enlightened man, until the year 1662, about two years 
after the restoration of Charles IL to the throne of England, 
when he was ejected from his position in the college, as a 
non-conformist. 



CONCLUSION 461 



CONCLUSIOlSr. 

It was well said by a Dutch historian about one hundred 
and fifty years ago,* in reference to the gradual progress 
of reform during the dark ages : — " That the wonderful 
work of reformation was small, and of very little account 
[apparently] in its beginning, and yet hath been advanced 
with remarkable progress, will, I believe, be denied by none 
that have with attention and due consideration read the 
history of its first rise ; since God, the beginner and author 
of this glorious work, proceeding by steps and degrees, used 
therein such singular wisdom and prudence, that (every 
circumstance duly considered) instead of censuring any part 
thereof, we shall be obliged to cry out, * Thou, Lord, 
alone knowest the right times and seasons to open the eyes 
of the people, and to make them capable of thy truth ' " . . . 
And in allusion to the fact that John Huss saw not through 
all the errors of the Romish doctrine, the same author adds : 
— "He had been faithful according to his knowledge, and 
had not hid his talent in the earth, but improved it ; having 
shown himself a zealous promoter of that small illumination 
which God was pleased to grant him — it being without 
question great enough in that grievous night of darkness, 
when idolatry had so universally blinded mankind, that 
morally speaking, it would have been impossible for them 
to have understood the declaration of an entirely reformed 
religion ; whereas it is evident that the most sober and dis- 
creet people of that age were capable to understand the 
doctrine and sermons of that honest man." 

The "steps and degrees" by which it pleased the Most 

•■■• William Sewcll, of Arastcrdani. 



462 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

High to lead his poor benighted professing church into more 
and more light, as they were able to bear it, are observable 
not only in doctrinal development, but also in the gradual 
amelioration and civilization of professing Christendom, by 
which the human mind, at large and as a whole, became 
more capable of performing its most important functions. 
And though the successive reforms were often partial, and 
apparently ephemeral and local, and were in their scope 
by no means perfect, nor free from many of the errors of 
the prevalent system, nevertheless it is plainly observable 
that their local and ephemeral character was more in ap- 
pearance than in reality; for though the active instruments 
therein from time to time perished, often without being per- 
mitted to ''see of the travail of their souls," and the strong 
hand of authority covered their names with reproach, and 
seemed for a time to succeed in stifling the voice of their 
testimony; yet the virtue of it continued to flow in an under 
current, and was like the ''bread cast upon the waters," 
which was "found after many days," to the strength and 
animation of those who came afterward to " fight the good 
fight" of the faith once delivered to the saints. So that the 
right promulgation of the truth may be said never to fall 
entirely to the ground, without the word of the Lord ac- 
complishing, in his own time, that whereunto it was sent. 
Its secret but irrepressible influence has formed a sort of 
platform for succeeding reformers to stand upon, who found 
the hearts of increasing numbers prepared more or less to 
examine into the nature of divine truth. Thus the standard 
that had been raised was by no means lost, from century 
to century, although for a season trodden under foot by th* 
powers of the Avorld. This was conspicuously the case with 
John Huss, whose views were to an eminent degree cleared- 
and strengthened and enlarged by the previous course 
and testimony of Wycliflfe ; and in like manner, though 



CONCLUSION. 463 

at first unconsciously, did Martin Luther derive advantage 
and enlarge the field of his success, from the results of the 
labors of Wyeliffe and of Huss ; although many years had 
elapsed between him and them, and great efforts had been 
made to vilify their memory as heretics, and bury the re- 
sults of their teachings under a load of obloquy, overwhelm- 
ing to anything short of that which has a measure of divine 
approval to sustain it. 

Nevertheless the principles of a perfect reformation were 
reserved (as to their development in the world) to a later day. 
Even the great reformation under the instrumentality of Lu- 
ther and his associates (which falls not within our present 
scope), is acknowledged to have been short of arriving at a 
clear revival of pure primitive Christianity in life and doc" 
trine ; and conspicuously was this the case with the English 
reformation under Henry YIII. Previous reforms fell cer- 
tainly still more short of bringing mankind back to the pri- 
meval state of the Christian religion, as it had emanated 
from the very " lip of truth," and from which the world had 
so widely departed into the "traditions" and ''command- 
ments of men." Yet how animating is it to look upon the 
successive efforts made by faithful men and women, through 
all the darkness which surrounded them, to walk worthy 
of the vocation wherewith they felt themselves called ; and 
to behold them sustained by faith in the succor of the Son 
of God, through all the sufferings which overtook them! 
And although seeing in some things " as through a glass, 
darkly," yet, on the whole, how eminently were they made 
instrumental (by Him who called them and in degree en- 
lightened and qualified them), in clearing away idolatry and 
priestcraft, and encouraging men to love and serve the 
living and true God, from a principle operative in the heart 
and soul. 

A fter the Lutheran reformation, the reader will have per- 



464 REFORMERS AND MARTYRS. 

ceived the advocacy of still purer views of the sweetness 
of the love of God, and the efficacy of true and living faith, 
exemplified in the accounts of Molinos, Guion, and Dell ; 
although the two former never left the profession of the 
church of Rome, sorely persecuted as they were by its au- 
thorities ; and the latter, for aught that has appeared in 
history, continued in connection with the Episcopal church 
of England. As regards William Dell, he saw so clearly 
that the professing church of his day was very far from the 
purity of the primitive times, and felt so fully convinced that 
more of a putting on of the beautiful garments of righteous- 
ness was called for at its hands, that he might almost be 
said to have adopted the language of the apostle Paul : 
"And yet show I unto you a more excellent way" — when 
his pen prophetically declared, in reference to the unbelief 
of that age in the spiritual doctrines which he advocated : 
" But because I see this present generation so rooted and 
built up in the doctrines of men, I have the less hope that 
this truth will prevail with them. And therefore I appeal 
to the next generation, which will be further removed from 
those evils, and will be brought nearer to the Word ; but 
especially to that people whom God hath and shall form 
by His Spirit for himself; for these only will be able to 
make righteous judgment in this matter, seeing they have 
the Anointing to be their teacher, d^ndi the Lamb to be 
their lighV"^ 

It is probable that but few of our readers will at first 
sight be able to appreciate this notable testimony, given 
about the middle of the seventeenth century, to the ap- 
proaching rise of a people who should practically carry out 
the spiritual views, some of which Dell had a glimpse of, 
and to which he testified as characteristic of the true 

* See Works of William Dell, Master of Gonville and Caius College, 
Cambridge, in the treatise on Baptism. 



CONCLUSION. 465 

church of Christ. And probably Dell himself never real- 
ized fully, or followed out, the application of his own 
words. Yet the reader who will take the pains candidly to 
pursue the subject of vital religion, as historically sketched 
or depicted in another work by the author of the present 
Vjolume (and put forth by the same publishers), may not 
find it so difficult, as prejudiced minds might suppose, to as- 
certain whether the foresight of William Dell was not fully 
realized, during that same and the following century, in the 
raising up by the Lord of the harvest, of a people who 
showed not only by profession, but by practice also, and 
that through severe persecutions, that they had the clear 
light of the gospel itself to walk by, experimentally know- 
ing " the Anointing to be their teacher, and the Lamb to 
be their light." 



THE END. 



